
From left: Chief Operation Officer, Ibom Air, Mr. George
Uriesi; Chairman of the Occasion/Group Managing Director, Finchglow
Holdings, Mr. Bernard Bankole, Chairman, League of Airports and
Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Mr. Olusegun Koiki, Key note
Speaker/Centre Director , Centre for International Advance and
Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, Managing
Director/CEO, Med-View Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, during the
26th Annual Conference of LAAC 2022 on ‘Sunset Airport: Economic and
Safety Implications’ at Sheraton Hotel Ikeja Lagos on Thursday.
Experts at the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) 26th annual conference held in Lagos on Thursday have revealed that Nigerian airlines lose at least N4.3 billion annually due to their restriction to operate 24 hours flight daily to the airports of their choice.
They equally charged Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as against suspending the carriers’ to help their growth process but not without upholding safety.
One of the key speakers at the conference, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi, speaking on the themed: ‘Sunset Airports: Economic and Safety Implications,’ held in Lagos, said that the lack of 24 hours flight operations to major routes in Nigeria was impeding the growth of the airlines.
In his paper, ‘Maximising Runway Utilisation: A Nigerian Airline Perspective,’ the country’s carriers are losing an average of N4 million per flight, N12 million in every flight, N360 million in 90 flights and N4.3 billion annually on every flight lost to sunset airport operations.
Uriesi noted that this restriction has led to a huge under-utilisation of aircraft fleets by the Nigerian airlines as against the global industry standards.
He added: “This is due partly because of too many impediments in the operating environment that limit airline productivity.
“These include limited runway availability across the domestic network, multiple operational infrastructure deficiencies, poor organisation and many others.”
In a bid to solve the challenge, Uriesi appealed to the government to prioritise airfield infrastructure and provide the necessary Instrument Landing System (ILS) and accompanying accessories for every airport, while also keeping the aerodromes open to meet the needs of airlines and other users.
Besides, he advised that the government should make current, approved master plans a regulatory requirement for every airport and illegalize non-adherence to the master plans by any organisation.
“Establishing a local aircraft lessor /financing vehicle that would allow for the domiciling of aircraft payments in local currency would make a huge difference to the air transport sector in Nigeria,” he added.
Another major speaker, the Centre Director at the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, in his paper: ‘Passenger Experience in Daylight Airports,’ said that the NCAA should encourage the airlines to succeed without the relegation of safety.
He stated that the aviation industry in the country was bedeviled with myriads of crises, stressing that the high cost of flights and shutting down of airlines in a country signified a bad omen for the country.
Kila called for total rethink and resetting of the aviation industry by all players in the sector.
He also canvassed for the establishment of Bank of Aviation, which would make access to foreign exchange by airlines easier.
“We need to act swiftly and decisively to deal with this situation so that this very bad situation we have at hand does not turn into an unmanageable disaster. Decisive actions in this case will require a total rethink and resetting of the way we conceive and manage our aviation manners.
“There is a prevailing idea in the general public and amongst too many leaders of thought, opinion moulders and indeed policy makers that aviation is a sector that services the elites or the privileged, this is however an anachronistic misconception that needs to be deliberately and assertively corrected.
“Those who know and can need to find the clarity of mind and courage of voice to explain to the rest of the society that in the times we live in and with the size and structure of Nigeria, aviation has become and will remain a basic and essential infrastructure. With such conception in mind, the role of regulators in the sector will be radically modified. “
Chairman of the occasion, the Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, Mr. Bankole Bernard, earlier in his speech, warned that the continuous rise of dollar against naira would spell doom for the industry.
He insisted that the situation was scary for all business entities in the country and appealed to the government to force a change.
Bernard who was also the Chairman of the occasion advised the Nigerian Government to take a cue from other advanced countries where airports are opened for operations for 24 hours daily, but said some factors determine this.
He mentioned some of the factors to include routes, cost of operations, navigational equipment and others.
According to Bernard this would promote tourism and business growth across the country.