Business | Aviation
DRAIN PIPE Government needs to attract private investors to expand airport buildings
Stories by Wole Shadare
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iven the experience of government and private partnership of the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) project and the private investments in Nahco Aviance, Sahcol, among others, the Federal Fovernment has been asked not to inject scarce public funds into building passengers and cargo terminals. Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Aviation Services and former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), said although these were desirable for the comfort of the passengers, they are not necessarily essential neither are they the concern of aviation safety and security. Government, he said, would also need to attract private investors to expand airport passengers’ terminal buildings as well as expand aircraft parking areas. Ojikutu, in a statement to New Telegraph, stated that as shown in Annex A of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation (NCAR), the internally generated revenue by government op-
TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015 NEW TELEGRAPH
Airport remodelling project, waste of public fund – Ojikutu erators annually was adequate to support their operations, services and administrations with substantial profit margin left for returns into the Federation Account or for capital development if their financial books are regularly subjected to surveillance and auditing by the appropriate government agencies. Speaking on airline capitalisation, the security expert said it should no longer be based on monetary terms but must be factored into fleet expansion, equipment and route development. He said: “For any airline to be eligible for Airline Operating License [AOL] and operate scheduled domestic routes only, it must have minimum of five aircraft and operate not more than three domestic routes. “An airline wishing to operate regional, continental or international routes in addition to operating domestic routes should have minimum of 10 aircraft and should operate not more than six routes including the domestic routes. Airlines wishing to operate domestic, regional, continental and international routes should have minimum of 20 aircraft
and could operate as much as 10 routes or more including the domestic routes.” He advised that for any domestic airline operator to benefit from government’s intervention fund, it must raise fund from the capital market and therefore be a member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The former airport commandant further stated that such airline must subject its financial books regularly to the responsible government agency for financial auditing in accordance with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) commercial regulations. Ojikutu said the establishment of national carrier was desirable but not essential. To him, giving the experience in the defunct Nigerian Airways, if Nigeria must establish one, government should not have controlling share so as not, through the inherent official corrupt system, possibly compromise the oversight and the enforcement of the safety, security and commercial regulations on the operation of the carrier. He further advised that government’s share interest with
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Ethiopian bags Airline of the Year award
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thiopian Airlines, the largest airline in Africa, has been adjudged ‘Airline of the Year’ for the second time in a row at MICE Magazine’s 8th Annual Industry Golden Chair Awards held in Beijing, China. The annual Golden Chair Award is one of the most influential awards in China and ranks airlines, hotels, travel agencies and tourism destinations with the best performance. Ethiopian Group Chief Executive Officer, Tewolde GebreMariam, in a statement made available to New Telegraph said, “We are honoured to receive this award for the second year in a row. I wish to thank MICE Maga-
zine and, above all, our esteemed customers from China for their vote of confidence. Ethiopian has become the airline of choice for Chinese travelers between China, Africa and Brazil.” “We offer the best and fastest connectivity options with a total of 28 weekly flights to 4 gateways in China that are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and with immediate connection to 49 destinations in Africa and Sao Paulo in Brazil. All the flights are operated with the latest and most comfortable aircraft, the 787 and 777”. Going forward, the airline chief said, given the growing economic and people-to-people ties between Africa and China,
they will expand their reach in China, Africa and Brazil with new destinations and more frequencies with a view to enhance their service to their customers from China”. In 2014, Ethiopian received Best Airline to Africa award by Premier Traveler, one of the most prominent travel magazines in the United States. Ethiopian has also been awarded Best Airline in Africa and African Airline of the Year awards by Passenger Choice and The African Airlines Association (AFRAA). In 2015, Ethiopian was recognized as the Best Regional Airline by Air Transport World, the global leading aviation publication.
the public interest in the national carrier should not be more than 30 per cent; the airline staff 10 per cent; private investors and their technical partners with 60 per cent shares. It would be recalled that an attempt to have a replica of Nigeria Airways ended in
fiasco with the Virgin Nigeria experiment, which eventually saw to the demise of the carrier four years ago. The government had totally bankrolled the set up of the carrier with Virgin Chairman, Sir Richard Branson, providing little or no financial support.
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Wole Shadare
Aviation Minister… putting right pegs in right holes
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s the nation awaits General Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration on May 29, 2015, it is the wish of many that the in-coming government would look at technocrats to oversee most of government agencies/parastatals, with a view to turning around their fortune to position them for greater efficiency. Virtually all government agencies are badly run. Most of them are cesspit of graft, coupled with unnecessary bureaucracy that has done grave damage to them. One of them is the aviation industry. Over the years, the aviation industry has been badly managed. Not that the sector is short of competent hands to move the sector to the next level, but it has been peopled by politicians and many who do not have the interest of the sector at heart. Aviation ministers in the past never had knowledge of the sector before their appointment, so they found it extremely difficult to understand the sector. They make wrong decisions that have negative impact on the sector. They grope for one year before they come to terms with aero politics and the intricacies of the industry. Apart from Dr. Kemafor Chikwe, a lecturer who came to a relatively unknown terrain, others have done badly by taking the sector a decade backward. What the sector recorded in the last four years was heart breaking. It was a period we had the highest number of plane crashes and near crashes. It was a period the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the aviation regulatory agency was weakened by interference from the Ministry of Aviation. It was a period the NCAA was not allowed to work the way it should function. The NCAA witnessed a period that it could not send workers and inspectors on training. The Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) is presently, in bad shape, save for the current Managing Director, Saleh Dunuma, who is trying to put it in proper shape after years of inefficiency that became pronounced three years ago. Incessant unrests had put the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in the media for the wrong reasons until the current Managing Director came onboard early last year. These crises became visible because of lack of good supervision by a professional as Minister of Aviation. As a result of this, experts have sent passionate plea to get credible people to man sensitive positions in the industry. One of the few men that should be considered for ministerial appointment and one who has a rich wealth of experience is Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren. In late 2005, there was a loss of confidence in air travel and apathy in the aviation industry as two fatal air disasters in a span of seven weeks left the nation mourning. The two incidents were Bellview Airline flight 210 that killed all 117 people on board on October 22, and Sosoliso Airlines flight 1145 that killed 105 of 108 passengers, including 61 students from Loyola Jesuit College on December 10, 2005. On August 23, 2010, under the leadership of Dr. Demuren the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigeria attained American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA IASA) Category One Certification. This allows direct flights from Nigeria to Continental United States (USA). Prior to his appointment in 2005, there were no direct flights between Nigeria and USA. There are now several direct flights between Nigeria and U.S. destinations including Atlanta, New York and Washington. Whichever way the government looks, stakeholders have called for the appointment of square pegs in square holes.