Rethink and a Reset Aviation

 Industry Experts Call for A ‘Rethink and a Reset’ in Aviation Manners 

ZAINAB JUNAID 

Stakeholders in the aviation sector have called on various players in the industry to deploy decisive actions that requires a total rethink and resetting of the way they conceive and manage their aviation manners. 

Speaking at the 26th annual conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondence (LAAC) themed Sunset Airport: Economic and Safety Implications, Director, Centre for International and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Professor Anthony Kila, affirmed that industry operators need to go beyond flying, selling or distributing tickets, but to represent their challenges as rewarding opportunities to capable innovators, inventors and investors. 

“Maintenance of equipment, refining of aviation fuel, training and development of human capital, deployment of distribution systems and other problems that are adversely affecting the sector can and should be thrown open to the market as opportunities for players outside the aviation sector. 

“To do all these and much more, requires the ability to conceive, shape and propose rewarding and sustainable partnership between the public and private sectors, it requires a collaboration of thinkers and doers but above all, it requires a leadership that can clearly and boldly rethink and reset aviation,” he agitated. 

Rating the Nigeria’s aviation industry higher compared to other sectors with the multiple challenges it currently faced is nothing to move near as it’s key players-airlines, airport operators, oil marketers, ground handlers, catering services and all safety stakeholders in recent months have had to contend with mirage of challenges, which have hitherto brought adverse effect on them.

 A situation where a litre of Jet A1 goes as high as N800 and simultaneously having our Naira to a dollar standing at over N720 is ridiculous which has forced a major carrier, Aero Contractors, to fold the wings of its scheduled flights. 

The exorbitant and unsustainable expenditures they have to incur in order to operate their scheduled flights and lack of equipment needed for their processes pushed them to this level. Another carrier on its part, Dana Air was forced to quit the field operation over poor liquidity by the apex regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

In both cases the results are stranded angry and, in some cases violent passengers, that have to deal with disrupted plans and the challenges of looking for replacement flights at prices way higher than what they initially budgeted and paid for. Besides, frustrated airline staff faced with uncertainty about their professional lives. 

Professor Kila described the prevailing issues as an anachronistic misconception that needs to be deliberately and assertively corrected. 

“The deep and hurting reality is that we have an aviation crisis and emergency in our hands in this country. It is a crisis because high cost of flights and shutting down of airlines in a country as big as ours in the times we live in looks very bad and it is leading to serious disruptions. 

“It is an emergency because we cannot afford to let the situation play out itself and we cannot be patient and wait for long term solutions. 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,” he said.

 However, while deliberating on the implications of Sunset Airport in Nigeria, Bankole Bernard, Group Managing Director Finchglow Holdings opined that the country can start with modernisation of the airport terminals with shopping malls which will attract sunset operations at the airports. 

Group MD Finchglow Holdings, Bankole Bernard. 

He said, “Given the numerous challenges faced in the industry indicates that what we currently have in the sector requires some improvement before we can run 24 hrs operations. On the part of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) , the airport operator, has reported that on different occasions, it has requested that some airports should be given room to operate 24/7 but in the end pulled back when it came to financing. Having said this, it is clear that both the operator and the facility manager have challenges of their own, however, if properly done, the economic impact of putting our airports to maximum use will be actualize. A shift from only aeronautical sources of revenue can better position us economically in the Nigerian Aviation Industry. We can also start with the modernization of airport terminals with shopping malls. This will contribute to the commercial viability of the airports and other necessary infrastructures like the internet and constant power supply to support businesses. 

He continued, “We must begin to think of an alternative power supply like renewable energy to keep the airport functional and reduce the cost of operation in the long run. This will also make the airport viable and attractive. 

“Another area to consider is providing affordable hotels which will give credence to investments. The ability to provide BnB (Bed & Breakfast) hotels around the terminals of some of these airports will be of great attraction and will increase the viability of the airport as well. 

“Lastly, there is the area of interconnectivity within the airports. The interconnectivity of the local airports to the international airports will contribute to the economic viability of these airports. It will also bring the connection to such airports, hence it will not be limited to one drop-off and pick-up. When all these are in place, we can then talk of 24 hrs operations at our airports, “ he said