Nigeria’s 12.08% air transport growth hinged on stable economy

Aviation experts have hinged the growth experienced in sector in 2017 on a relatively stable economy.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in fourth quarter 2017, the fastest growing activities in the quarter were road transport at a rate of 27.23% and Air Transport at a rate of 12.08% year on year.

Transport contributed 1.74% to Nominal GDP, an incline from the 1.50% recorded in the corresponding period of 2016, and higher than the 1.43% recorded in the third quarter of 2017. Annual growth and contribution stand at 13.60% and 1.57% respectively.

However, the water transport; air transport; transport services; and post and courier services sectors grew by 24.10% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2017 (year on year). This rate is higher, relative to figure recorded at 10.55% for the corresponding quarter of 2016 and 0.58% in the previous quarter.

The direct impact of the growth is that airlines are increasing frequencies into the country and opening more routes.

Philip Akesson the country manager for Travelstart Nigeria, confirmed this development and said the increase in ticket sales experienced in Nigeria lately, is an indication that the stable economy is helping to give more trust, such that the airlines will keep investing.

“Delta is commencing Lagos to NewYork flights, RwandAir is also adding more flights and a lot of the airlines are adding more flights and new routes. Some airlines that flew three times into Nigeria before are now doing daily. The market is not like it was two years ago, it is improving and a lot of this is because of stability and it is good for business,” Akesson said.

BusinessDay’s checks show that Nigerians have continued to embrace air travel as foreign airlines ticket sales in 2017 was more than N200 billion, higher than in 2016.

In 2017, air travel still recorded ticket sales of N511 b ($1.4) from January to October 2017. The 2016 tickets sales, as released by the Nigerian Civil Authority (NCAA) put earnings of 30 foreign carriers on the Nigerian route at N330,548,324,796.84, a little less than N385,909,897,028. 80 sold between January to December in 2015.

Bankole Bernard, President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), said that the huge tickets sales by foreign airlines shows that Nigeria’s economy is on the upswing.

Bobby Bryan, the Commercial Director, West, East, Central and Lusophone Africa for Delta Air Lines, told BusissDay that the introduction of flights from Lagos to New York is an important step, as the economy and Delta rebuild after the financial crisis in Nigeria.

“The New-York route is the largest unserved route from the United States to Nigeria. This means there are a lot of people who want to go there. So, it is important that the need be met. The clients that will be going from here are important to us. It is the financial market; we are the capital finance in Nigeria. We saw a market that was not being served and we thought we had an opportunity to do so,” Bryan added.

Competition will also deepen for airlines going to Dubai, Sharjah and London routes as one of Nigeria’s leading airlines, AirPeace, will commence flight operations into these locations this year.

Late last year, Emirates Airline commenced flight operations from Nigeria to Asia (China) just as Nigeria has continued to experience an increase in businesses and investment opportunities in China.

IFEOMA OKEKE