18 firms apply for domestic airline licenses

…as Stakeholders seek guarantees that they will employ Nigerians  

Investors are positioning to fill the gap in the Nigerian airlines space, following the collapse of several domestic airlines and the struggles faced by those still flying.

BusinessDay’s checks show 18 firms have applied to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to obtain the Air Operators Certificates to operate into and within Nigeria, while countries such as United Arab Emirates, (UAE), Netherlands, Turkey, Brazil, Qatar and Cote d’ Ivoire have requested for additional frequencies into Nigeria.

This development is coming on the back of Aero Contractors recent cut in staff strength by 60 percent, amounting to 600 job losses, while Arik Air, the biggest domestic carrier has reduced frequencies from 120  to 15 flights daily with a very low load factor, indicating possible job losses in the nearest future.

“This is the right time for the Federal Government to enter into mutual agreements with the prospective airline operators to employ a reasonable number of qualified Nigerians, to mitigate effect of unemployment in the sector,”John Ojikutu, a security expert and former commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), told BusinessDay.

Genesis Global Aviation, one of the airline operators recently granted an AOC to operate helicopter shuttle services within Nigeria, told BusinessDay that the company intends to employ mostly Nigeria experts in its operations.

“We understand the situation of job losses in the sector and for now, the organisation will only employ Nigerian pilots who are type rated under this kind of helicopter. Our deputy managing director, David Nwoke, left Aero Contractors and will be working with us from hence forth,” Emmanuel Ihenacho, the accountable manager Genesis Global Aviation, said.

Gabriel Olowo, president and Chief Executive Officer, Sabre Network NMC West Africa and President of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative, said that when he managed the defunct Belview Airline, he negotiated air traffic to Indians for Belview with an Airbus 300 and 800. Olowo disclosed that the Indians refused them operations except they were ready to meet up with their demands.

Some of these demands, he said entailed employing mostly Indians in their workforce and giving the government of India proceeds from ticket sales of 100 seats on each return flight, which was part of the conditions that led to the exit of the airline.

Olowo insisted that while other countries continue to benefit from the aviation sector through mutual agreements, Nigeria has continued to lose out, on account of a shortage  of real aviators to manage the aviation sector.

Nigeria, which had 88, Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) in 2015 increased them to 90 countries in December last year. The additional countries are Seychelles and the Bahamas.

While some stakeholders are of the view that the BASA venture may be unprofitable since domestic airlines do not have the capacity to reciprocate flights as the foreign airlines do, others believe that if the Federal Government enters mutual agreements with these foreign airlines on job allocations and healthy competition, then this can boost the sector.

“With the right policies in place, the entry of foreign airlines in the domestic air-space should quickly translate to capital investments, competitive fares, more jobs, improved customer service, innovations and the opening up of underserved routes.

“The current protections in various sectors have led to the creation of a legion of short-lived inefficient flyers at the expense of consumers,” Jimi Ogbobine, head research Augusto & Co, an indigenous ratings organisation, told BusinessDay.

Ogbobine insists that although tough rules around open skies may slow down the implementation of such policies, this form of liberalisation is worth pursuing.

 

IFEOMA OKEKE