Aviation
Airline Operators Warn of Imminent Domestic Flight Ticket Rise to N100,000
Nigerians may soon pay as high as N100,000 for domestic flights if the lingering high cost of aviation fuel continues.
This is the position of domestic airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria, who also blamed foreign exchange among other challenges they are facing.
Spokesperson for local airlines and Chairman, United Airlines, Prof.
Obiora Okonkwo, made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.Aside from the lingering aviation price hike crisis, the airline chief said local operators were being compelled to source foreign exchange from the parallel market at high rates due to a lack of adequate supply from the Central bank of Nigeria via the commercial banks.
Consequently, he said an increase in the base economy flight ticket to at least N100,000 might be inevitable for all domestic airline operators if the current situation persists.
“Obviously, it is inevitable. I can tell you that all the airline operators, in the last three months, have been losing money, a huge amount of money. There is too much stress on the operational fronts for them to break even. Even if the aviation fuel is made available, there must be a review to reflect the minimal operational cost. We are offering patriotic services to the nation and understand the essential part of it. We are part of this economic development process in Nigeria but it is coming at a very huge sacrifice,” Okonkwo said.
He added, “Nothing less than N100,000, between N100,000 and N120,000 base price, even with Jet A1 fuel at N400 – N500. That is what it is.”
In this regard, he added that meetings with the CBN ad yet to yield any positive result in the provision of adequate forex.
He further stressed the need for the aviation industry to be seen as an essential service that should have special consideration in financial matters.
Okonkwo clarified that the operators have no joy in increasing fares but it has become necessary for them to avoid shutting down and running out of business.
He added, “In the industry, it is expected that you will gain some here and lose some here but the biggest challenge indigenous operators are having is that the cost of everything is high. You source money from the commercial bank rates. You source money from the black market. No moratorium for your loans and the banks and AMCON are quick to jump on you.”
Corroborating this view, the Chief Operating Officer, Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi, said local airlines had reached a point in their operational cost whereby “something has to give in.”
“Something has to give in. It’s either the prices of fuel that come down or the prices of airfares go up from where they are. So far, the airlines have tried very much to work within the airfares as they are. All sides of the divide are aware that the airlines have done the best that they can do.
“I don’t know what tomorrow holds but at some point, if the airline doesn’t survive, it goes down, to the detriment of everybody-the people who work for the airline, the people who fly on the airline, the country’s economy, everything goes down. So, airlines are just trying to be stable and patriotic. That’s where we are,” Uriesi said.
Uriesi, a former managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, said it was difficult to tell how long the local carriers would be able to continue with the high operational cost.
“It’s very hard to say, we are watching the business every day, we’re watching a number of parameters. We’re watching the load factor, we’re watching the yield per passenger, we are watching the cost of operating at the price we’re paying every day which keeps going up every few days. So, the truth from this is that, when it becomes clear that you will not be able to sustain yourself, then you’ll have to adjust some of your indices, always taking into consideration the ability of the passenger to pay because you can’t just raise prices just because fuel has gone up. If you issue what they can’t pay, then you will not carry anybody, you would have committed suicide.”
However, industry experts said the unfolding development would not augur well for the local airline industry, saying it could make its outlook bleaker.
The Chief Executive Officer, Centurion Aviation Safety and Consult, Group Captain John Ojikutu, (retd), said, “This is not a good sign for the domestic airline industry. We should ask ourselves why the four refineries have not been working for the past 20 years. If you have refineries and crude oil, and you are refining, there should be no reason for the type of increase in aviation fuel price we’re having.
“Even when this fuel gets back to this country, we transport them by fuel tankers when in other countries they transfer them through pipelines.”
According to a former Managing Director of Associated Airlines, Mr Alex Nwuba, foresee a reduction in passenger traffic if airfares become too high.
“We didn’t die when flights couldn’t operate during the COVID-19, people adapted so people will adapt. They may just have to forfeit some trips that are not important and focus on trips that are important. They could also decide to choose alternative methods of travel when the fares are too high,” he said.
A former Director of Operations, IRS Airlines, Kenneth Wemambu, said, “Airlines have been losing money. A business person, if the cost of operation increases by over 200 per cent, you will need to avoid running the business. This is why the possibility of an airfare hike can’t be ruled out.
By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja
The House of Representatives on Wednesday, expressed deep anger over faulty air crafts in the Presidential air fleet, just as it summoned the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, for investigation.
The House in plenary, during a heated debate on the motion, reiterated that billions of naira was budgeted to maintain the presidential Air Fleet.
The motion, which was moved by Hon Satomi Ahmed was followed by a heated debate by members who were divided over the issue.
Recall that the Vice President Kashim Shettima was on Sunday forced to cancel his trip to the United States where he was scheduled to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit, due to a fault with his aircraft.
Moving a motion of urgent public importance, Satomi who is Chairman House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, and represents Jere Federal Constituency, Borno State, noted that in April, President Bola Tinubu was embarrassingly, forced to fly in a chartered plane from Netherlands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to attend the World Economic Forum.
He noted that Vice President Kashim Shettima similarly used a chartered jet recently as presidential jets were undergoing repairs.
He expressed love for the President and Vice president insisting that such incident was a national embarrassment despite billions of naira budgeted yearly to maintain the air fleets.
In his contribution, member representing Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency, Gombe State, Ali Isah while supporting the call for investigation of the state of the presidential aircrafts, said the development should offer President Tinubu opportunity to travel by road to enable him understand the state of road infrastructure across the country.
He said, “I think this will afford our President and other leaders the opportunity to travel by road and appreciate the state of our roads.
“This happens all the time in some countries of the world.”
However the proposal did not sit well with Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu who presided over Wednesday’s plenary.
“Are you saying Mr President, the number one leader should travel around by road?,” he asked rhetorically amid support from All Progressives Congress lawmakers.
Supporting Isah’s position, the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda argued that “In Britain, the Prime Minister flies British Airways. I don’t see anything wrong with a public officer using commercial transportation.”
Chinda also said that bringing the motion to the floor of the House was not necessary as it is the duty of the relevant committee to go ahead with the investigation without necessarily bringing it on the floor of the House .
Chinda further advocated the resuscitation of a national career as a way out of the embarrassment.
The Deputy Speaker however, said it was indeed not necessary to bring the motion before the whole House as it was within the duty of the relevant committee to investigate the incidence of it deems it fit he therefore called that the motion be stepped down
By Idris Umar Feta Abuja
Many air travellers were left stranded following the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday.
A combined team of NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) blocked both the entry and exit ways of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
The protest was part of the series of actions that the two labour unions say they would zero in on Imo, following the attack on the NLC president, Joe Ajaero.
The NLC and TUC had on Tuesday, declared a nationwide strike, which will commence on Tuesday, November 14, due to the face-off with the Imo State Government.
Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo has renamed the state’s International Passenger and Cargo Airport after the late Chinua Achebe, a novelist, to immortalise him for making an indelible mark on the history of human civilisation.
Achebe a native of Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, died on March 21, 2013, at age 82, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Soludo said this on Sunday in Awka at the Independence Day parade, to mark Nigeria’s 63rd anniversary, describing Achebe as an example of Africa’s unsung hero.
“Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic, gave the African literature an identity and a voice and he rightly reconstructed and refined the identify of the people,” he said.
The governor said that Achebe was not just an Anambra hero nor a Nigerian hero, but an African and global hero and yet largely unsung at home.
He said that henceforth, the state shall be deliberate in fishing out and celebrating its largely unsung heroes as motivation to children and youths.
“Unfortunately, some people wrongly think of legacies in terms of brick and mortar. Legacy is about impact on human life and human civilisation.
“Achebe was not a president or governor or military. He did not build bridges or roads or airports but he will outlive most presidents, governors and ministers in our minds.
“Achebe rejected Nigeria’s national honours twice in protest against what he perceived as injustice to his home state Anambra. Today, Anambra will finally honour him.
“After wide consultations, there is a broad consensus that no one is more deserving to be named after the first airport in Anambra than Anambra’s all-time greatest literary gift to the world, Chinua Achebe.
“Consequently, we will rename the Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport, Umueri, to Chinua Achebe International Airport, Umueri.
“Yes, it has to be an international airport, and we hope to work with the Federal Government to give full effect to its international status,” he said.
Soludo urged Nigerians to be intentional about making the project Nigeria work and believe in the potential greatness of the country.
“We have muddled through the past 63 years with squandered opportunities and yet with the promise of potential greatness
“No country or nation is a perfect. Every nation continues to struggle in its match to a more perfect union. The path to stability, growth and sustainability will be challenging as there are no quick fixes.
“But all of us must collectively think and work Nigeria out of the current challenges. We have no other country but Nigeria, and we must make it to work for everyone, “he said.
The governor said his administration was founded on the true progressive agenda and would continue to create the enabling environment for residents to thrive and survive.
The police, paramilitary organisations and students from different schools took part in the parade. (NAN)
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