Why airlines fizzle out of international routes -Bankole Bernard
| For Nigerian airlines to stay long on the international routes,they need to retrace their steps and take a critical look at their business plans to correct the areas where they have taken faulty steps. Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings,Mr.Bankole Bernard gave the advice while speaking with newsmen in Lagos. He attributed the problems of the airline to their lack of Commercial Directors. “ Before any airline goes into operating a new route, you must have robust planning of your expected performance on such a route.” According to Bernard,the Nigerian airlines should get their commercials right.” Other people are getting it right and they come to Nigeria despite the aviation fuel challenge and the problem of foreign exchange.” “For every time we go to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy dollars, do you know that the Federal Government is subsidising it for us?” He disclosed that what some of our airlines are saying is that the government should continue to subsidise them to remain in business. “That is not how a business is done. Our airlines choose the foreign routes they want to operate into and one expected them to have put their figures together.” He said why can’t Nigerian carriers realise the fact that there are more opportunities in this market and the West Coast for them, which will add more value to their bottom line than the long hauls?” “ Someone told me recently that a flight to Maiduguri is now about N400,000 and I said that makes a lot of sense. It is either you want to fly or you go by road where you may be kidnapped. It is not the airlines’ fault that they are charging that amount of money, but it is the reality on ground.” He predicted that the cost of tickets would still soar higher than what we are experiencing at the moment because several things act as determining factors. “ Everything that has to do with air transport is dollar denominated. So, if it is dollar denominated, how can we ensure business success for our people? That is what we should be thinking about.” Bernard posited that our airlines on foreign routes should request to pay their taxes from Nigeria on the foreign routes in naira instead of dollars. “This will make them stabilise in foreign routes. Instead of Nigerian airlines to canvas for a license to start selling aviation fuel, they can approach the government for a more practicable way out. As an industry, let’s not lose focus on our business decisions.” On looming shortage of personnel in aviation and available data,he said: the issue of data is a serious challenge in the Nigerian aviation industry and I remember I told the minister some time ago that anybody that will be bold enough to create a central data system for the aviation industry has solved half of the problems of Nigeria, not even the industry alone. “Once a ministry or a sector is willing and ready to do it, every other one will follow suit. Till tomorrow, I don’t have a database I can log in to see the number of people leaving Nigeria. Why are they keeping the record? Is it not public information?” “So, if we don’t have a central data system, how do we now ascertain the personnel within the industry? When you have a data system, it covers everything; it’s all encompassing; personnel, assets, collection and number of aircraft and many more. In the industry now, you don’t know who is leaving and who is staying.” According to him,the foreigners that the airlines intend to engage with or that they were engaging with in the past,that they are going to pay them in dollars.” Where is the dollar today? Once we have a central data system, our problem is automatically solved.” “The regulator should be the custodian of such information or it can have an arrangement where an organisation can get the data on their behalf” “The International Air Transport Association(IATA ) has its own record of airlines that operate into Nigeria. If I contact IATA now for the number of flights coming into Nigeria, they will give it to me, but I will pay for it.” ” The reason is because they have all the numbers of their member carriers. The only ones they will not have are those who are not their members. So, why will IATA have data and me as a nation I don’t have one?” |
