NIGERIAN AVIATION LOSES 40,000 SEATS PER DAY

The shortage is due to the suspension of operation by five domestic airlines, namely Air Nigeria, FirstNation Airlines, Dana Air, Chanchangi Airlines and Associated Airlines.

The five airlines used to supply combined monthly seats of 1,174,500 from a total of 29 aircraft. (Each aircraft makes five daily rotations with 135 average seat capacity per flight).

Further investigation showed that the three airlines currently operating have a total of 40 aircraft. 11 out the 40 are, currently under routine maintenance abroad, reducing the current domestic capacity by a total of 445,500 monthly seats.

This gives a combined capacity shortage of 1,620,000 aircraft seats every month, including the five airlines that are currently on ground.

The development has led to untold hardship for passengers at various airport terminals, especially Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Passengers face long hours of delays, abrupt flight cancellations and inability to get flight tickets when needed. Air fares have gone up astronomically as well.

While Air Nigeria, FirstNation, Chanchangi and Associated airlines voluntarily suspended their flight operations owing to various reasons, Dana was forced to do so by the Federal Government after the tragic crash that killed 163 people in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, on June 3.

Some airline sources said the hope to get more planes by Nigerian airline operators had not been working because foreign aircraft leasing companies were no longer willing to release their aircraft to Nigerian operators due to fear of indebtedness.

A top official of an airline said, “The foreign leasing companies know our industry is shaky, so they are afraid to give us planes on lease because they are not sure we will pay.

Aviation experts said the domestic airline industry was in a serious distress and that the Federal Government needed to intervene to save it from total collapse.

Industry analyst and Managing Director, Belujane Konzult, Mr. Chris Aligbe, said there was no quick solution to the crisis in the sector, noting that the government needed to sit down and analyse the problem critically.

“The aviation industry is down and it needs to be rebuilt. We must take practical steps to build the industry. The government must sit down and look at how the airlines can be helped to come out of the crisis.

“The problems of the airlines differ and they need to be solved one by one. But the general problem is that they all need fund.”

Chairman, Aviation Round Table, Captain Dele Ore, said the sector was in a serious crisis due to neglect by successive governments.

According to him, government needs to restructure the ministry of aviation in order to pave the way for fresh hands that can come up with policies that will move the sector forward.