Nigerian airlines are in dire straits. They are seeking help to allow them to stay afloat as they say that they are overwhelmed with a myriad of issues that threaten their existence. Rising from a meeting yesterday, the airlines said they lost $60 million to bird strikes in 2021 with Air Peace recording 14 bird strikes in 2021 and four this year already.
A significant threat to flight safety, bird strikes have caused a number of accidents with human casualties. Most accidents occur when a bird (or birds) collides with the windscreen or is sucked into the engine of jet aircraft. However, the carriers said figures available to them indicate that operators lost N20 billion to flight delays, arguing that 98 percent of the causes of the delays reside outside the purview of the airlines.
Chairman, Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said the occurrence of bird strikes is worrisome, thanking God that no accident had been recorded as a result of the menace, adding that his airline recorded 14 bird strikes last year and four this year, adding that each bird strike occurrence costs the airline $1.4 million to change a damaged engine. Onyema predicted extinction for many of the carriers within a few weeks if nothing was done about the high cost of aviation fuel that had skyrocketed to between N400 and N450 per litre within a space of one year, high airport charges including over 35 other charges by government agencies, increased cost of ground handling charges and scarcity of foreign exchange among others.
He noted that the perennial sundry charges that are levied at local and international airports nationwide have placed Nigeria among the most expensive aviation countries in Africa. The cumulative charges, which on the average doubles European and Middle Eastern countries’ charges, have been traced as responsible for the stunted growth of aviation in the country. Stakeholders are of the view that local airlines would have very slim chances of survival under the current regime of multiple taxes numbering 35. According to the airlines, the charges account for between 38 and 65 percent of revenue accruing to them. According to Onyema: “The price of Jet A1 has risen to N430 per litre.
It is only a stupid man that will not know that there is fire on the mountain. The ground handling firms hiked fees by 300 percent. What should airlines do in this situation? “Forex scarcity has hit us so badly and has risen by 200 percent. What should we do? Over 50 airlines have closed shops in this country in less than 10 years. These are the reasons many airlines have gone into extinction. We pay about 37 charges. No wonder no Nigerian airline is that strong.” The Air Peace took a cursory look into the debt profile of the airline, saying: “You need to look at the debt profile of the airlines which is humungous”. Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, in 2020, disclosed that the local airlines’ total debt burden to regulatory agencies stood at N22 billion. The operators debunked insinuations that they raised fares on domestic routes, stressing that the carriers did not get together to fix airfares. They opposed multiple designations to foreign airlines citing Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines that operate too many points to and from Nigeria. But experts who have always advocated for destinations for foreign airlines to be limited to one international airport, say that if this policy of granting multiple entries continues, local airlines will be negatively affected.
