The Chief Executive of Belujane Konsult, Mr Chris Aligbe, said Nigeria is big enough to have three big and formidable airlines that can be either privately owned or government-backed carriers to harness air travel potentials for the country.
He noted that the country needs a national flag carrier to strengthen Lagos or Abuja as a hub, stressing that no private airlines have ever built a hub.
He cited countries in Africa like Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Egypt Air and TAAG Angola, which have used national carriers to build strong hubs in their domain.
He lamented that the situation where a country does not have an ‘airline of note’ is worrisome and calls for urgent attention.
Aligbe who is an unrepentant supporter of national carrier because of the huge benefits it gives to a nation said that the time to set up a national airline was now.
He said, “Our country is large enough that it can have about three formidable airlines in the global space. But a situation where we don’t have any line of note is something very much uncalled for. To think that some people still believe that we should not do it, government should not do it.”
He noted that many African nations and foreign carriers have left Nigeria behind in the scheme of airline business was worrisome.
He agreed that the carriers need help to wriggle out of the challenges they are faced with at the moment, stressing that they need both aircraft and managerial capacity to navigate the intricate airline business.
His words, “Capacity is not the number of aircraft. Capacity in the industry is multidimensional. Even managerial capacity and managerial competence are critical to it because even if you have five aircraft or ten aircraft, the way you manage those aircraft and keep to schedule and everything is enough to show that you are on the incline. After all, Ibom Air does not have too many aircraft, but Nigerians believe that so far so good, it is better managed.
“Overland is a niche carrier, but it has stayed firm on the niche, showing signs of grappling with the challenge of managing an airline. The new airline on the block, ValueJet is showing promising signs.”
He maintained that the country is in the dark ages of airline operation with point-to-point operations, adding, ‘It is clear to Nigerians and to everyone that the country is not there in terms of aviation.
“Those arguing against a national flag carrier or whatever are arguing against Nigerians. They are insisting that Nigerians should continue to suffer. You fly point to point, you get to the other point, you take out your baggage, and you start looking for another airline to fly. You face, apart from difficulties, moving from one point to the other. Even if it is the same airport, you now have to buy another ticket.”
“Look at just this last Christmas, just last festive season. Ghana Airport Company reached an agreement with Ethiopian Airlines to fly Kumasi-London. They are flying to Kumasi on Saturday. Nigerians, go and check the passengers. Many Nigerians have flown to Lagos- Kumasi, Kumasi-London. So, it is our market. Ghana doesn’t have that market that is established. Our market is depleting fast. And people don’t seem to realize it.”
Aligbe explained that Richard Branson’s remark about Nigeria as a very corrupt country that should never be partnered with in the airline business when he controversially pulled his equity from Virgin Nigeria may have made many countries ignore the country during its quest for technical partnership with the botched Nigeria Air project.
According to him, “Sirika and Buhari were trying to sell Nigeria Air, no person wanted to talk about them to the point that Emirates refused. Etihad refused. To the point that they were hoping that Qatar would come.”
“The only airline that agreed to go was Ethiopian Airlines. I have said if we lose Ethiopian Airlines, it will be very difficult for us to get it back. We have lost it. The only person who can pull that back is the President, because the Ethiopian Prime Minister interacted with our president on that issue, so he can touch that. That is the only person who can pull it back. Otherwise, we will not have any investors.” Culled from Aviation Metrics.