Domestic airlines operating in Nigeria sold tickets worth over N2 billion between January and July 2015, Muktar Usman, director-general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said yesterday.
He also said their foreign counterparts made a total of N8,176,919, 415 under the same period.
Usman spoke at the 21st annual seminar organised by League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
According to him, at present, a lot of foreign airlines are finding Nigeria an investor’s basket, as a total number of 15 countries have so far indicated their preparedness to sign Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with Nigeria.
He said13 others were on the threshold waiting for renegotiation of their existing BASAs, saying, “from January to July this year, the total amount of ticket sold on the domestic routes is N2,352,011,595.17. “While the international operators sold N8,176,919,415.10, within the same period. The total volume of passengers airlifted from January – July 2015 by the domestic operators is 6,061,740 passengers, while their foreign counterpart freighted 2,341,748 in similar period.
“It is instructive to note that this result would have been better but for the transition period and elections, which always restricts wide scale travel.”
Usman also disclosed that NCAA was putting finishing touches to the process leading to the registration of all Aviation Fuel Marketers, adding that the existing ones would have to regularise their operations while new entrants would file fresh application with the same requirements.
“The regulatory authority is determined to put in the past the hydra- headed problem of dearth of technical staff. We now have a preponderance of Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) and the requisite technical manpower. We have interviewed and employed a lot of engineers who are presently undergoing training at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria,” he said.
On customer satisfaction, he charged that airlines operational efficiency should begin to gravitate towards customer centric services.
“If we all agree that passengers are the revenue base of all operations, there is therefore an implicit need to review our services at the airports and on board the aircraft. This will in turn provide value for money for passengers.
“To provide good and efficient services however, it can only be done with technological development. Our airlines need to join other global players and begin to strive to purchase newer aircraft and invest heavily in technology,” he said.
Sade Williams
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