Sanction: NCAA roars back with Turkish Airlines

 

For years, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) seems to have slumbered. WOLE SHADARE writes that its action against Turkish Airlines and quick compliance could open a fresh vista of aviation regulation

Fresh vista

Not many remember the last time the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) came down hard on foreign airlines for perceived violation of passengers’ rights or maltreatment particularly of Nigerian passengers.

Last week’s threat by the agency to sanction Turkish Airlines was applauded by many who felt the agency was now living up to the billing.

The action of the agency shows that the new leadership under Acting Director-General, Captain Abdullahi Sidi, is trying to reposition the agency to meet the expectations of stakeholders.

NCAA bares fang

NCAA’s director-general had threatened that the airline would not be allowed to operate if it does not fly with the right size of aircraft that transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time.

The NCAA DG said recent flights operated by the airline left behind the baggage of about 85 per cent of the passengers on board.

“Our airport authority has been facing serious crises controlling the passengers at the airport whenever they arrive without their baggage. This issue has made passengers carry out several mob actions at our airport and it is a great threat to our airport facilities.

“In view of all these, and a series of meetings held with the Turkish Airlines personnel, which did not yield any solution to this problem, the NCAA is, therefore, left with no option than to direct Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations into Nigeria until such a time when the airline is ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that can transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time,” he said.

 

Turkish Airline is the national carrier of Turkey and it is the largest mainline carrier in the world by the number of passenger destinations.

Compliance

Sensing that there is a new sheriff in town, the carrier in less than 48 hours hurriedly complied with the directive by deploying a bigger aircraft, an Airbus 330, to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, rather than the previous Boeing 737 it used for the route.

The use of the B737, which is a smaller aircraft with a maximum capacity of 150 passengers, caused hardship to passengers, whose luggage were consistently left behind in Istanbul, Turkey by the airline.

This forced some passengers to protest the non-arrival of their check-in luggage.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, confirmed the news on his official Twitter page.

He said: “Turkish Air operated A330 to Abuja today (Saturday) as against the small B737 in apparent response to our suspension order. We needed not to get to this.”

Nigeria’s lucrative market

Turkish Airlines is allegedly notorious for its poor treatment of Nigerian travellers especially when they have to arrive their destinations without their checked-in luggage.

Nigeria is a very lucrative route for foreign airlines. Inside the fuselage of many foreign airlines are Nigerians. Business Class and First-Class cabins are sold out on virtually all flights.

During high seasons, hardly can one get seat on popular routes like London, Frankfurt, Atlanta, Amsterdam. Virtually all European, United States, Gulf carriers smile to the Bank because of the high yield the route gives to them.

Air fares are much on the high side because of demand that has outstripped supply. Fares charged by foreign airlines are twice what is charged from London to Accra which is same equidistance. The Nigerian market can in no way be compared with the Ghanaian market obviously because Nigerians are very mobile people coupled with the huge population of nearly 200 million.

Nigerians love to travel in class and are ready to spend big to get their money’s worth. Failure to give them what they want and inability to accommodate their many luggage will always draw their ire.

Partitioning routes

To show how juicy the country’s route is, many of the foreign carriers would fall over themselves to do multiple destinations. This is not helped by inability of domestic airlines to reciprocate the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Nigeria has with many countries around the globe.

Over 70 per cent of the total revenue generated in Nigeria’s aviation sector comes from international airlines operating in Nigeria, operators in the industry have said.

For instance, British Airways operate to Lagos and Abuja from London. Lufthansa, Ethiopian Airlines, also fly to the two cities. Emirates operates two flights into Lagos from Dubai and one flight to Abuja.

Capital flight

Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria reportedly sold tickets worth about $1.7 billion from January to December 2018.

In 2017, total ticket sold by foreign airlines in the country was about $1.4 billion.

A combination of the figures for 2017 and 2018 showed that in the last two years, foreign airlines earned $3.1 billion from ticket sales in Nigeria, excluding revenues earned from cargo movement into the country.

National carrier question

Failure to have a national carrier that would take off little slice of capital flight has done incalculable damage to the sector and open up Nigerians to be forced with all manner of treatment from foreign carriers.

A national airline would help grow the revenue contributions of Nigerian airlines as opposed to a situation where most of the income generated in the sector comes from foreign carriers.

Not a few objects to the national carrier project considering the massive value it will add to the sector. There are over 70 per cent of the bilateral air services that Nigeria is entitled to lying fallow. And this is because there is no capacity among domestic operators to utilise the rights given to them on those routes.

Experts’ views

A source, who works with a foreign carrier but pleaded anonymity, said: “These foreign airlines do not like Nigerians, they only love our money. That is the more reason they operate some aircraft with less capacity for luggage on the route. At times they look down on us because we do not have our own national airline.

“The NCAA needs to sit up to protect Nigerians. Kudos to them and the Minister for Aviation for looking Turkish Airlines in the eyes to tell them to do the right thing. Like the speed of light, they complied within 24 hours. That has brought respectability to Nigerians. This is what I call leadership.”

A former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Grp. Cpt. John Ojiutu (Rtd), carpeted Turkish Airlines by violating the BASA by operating an aircraft lower in capacity than what the treaty permits.

“There could be airlines behaving in similar manner. Thanks to the new man in NCAA now working with his two eyes wide open,” he noted.

More work for NCAA

Experts have called on NCAA to particularly look at economic regulation of the airlines as many of them are unhealthy. Unless it is quickly nipped in the bud, some pilots and engineers have concluded plans to down tool over delay in payment of their salaries, wages and allowances.

Woleshadarenews learnt that there were airlines that owe their workers upward of three to six months salaries. The NCAA can wield the big stick to allow carriers conform to regulations to guarantee safety.

Last line

Aside applauding NCAA for prompt response to some actions of foreign airlines, the aviation regulatory body needs to look inwards to bring sanity into the aviation industry in Nigeria.

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