The Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ibom Air, George Uriesi, has said Nigeria cannot achieve genuine hub status without building strong home-based airlines and prioritising transit traffic, noting that infrastructure alone does not define an aviation hub.
Speaking at the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ART) Q1 Business Breakfast Meeting themed “Boosting Aviation Sector Contribution to Nigeria’s GDP: The Importance of An Aviation Hub,” Uriesi described a hub as an airport where at least 30 per cent of arriving passengers are in transit to other destinations.
“A hub is not a big airport,” he said, explaining that even airports handling tens of millions of passengers annually may still operate largely on point-to-point traffic without functioning as true transit centres.
Uriesi emphasised that a successful hub depends on three critical pillars: strong home-based airlines, efficient infrastructure, and high-quality passenger service. He identified the absence of large, competitive domestic carriers as a major constraint, warning that Nigeria’s airlines remain too small to effectively support hub operations.
According to him, the “small airline syndrome” poses a significant risk to sustainability, as smaller carriers are more vulnerable to market shocks and less capable of providing the network connectivity required to attract transit passengers.
He also pointed to passenger experience as a decisive factor in route choices, noting that travellers flying across Africa often select transit hubs based on efficiency and service quality. He observed that competing hubs such as Accra currently enjoy an advantage due to better passenger experience and smoother connections.
Uriesi further attributed many of the sector’s longstanding challenges to policy decisions, stressing the need for alignment between regulators and industry stakeholders. He, however, expressed optimism that recent leadership direction within the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the aviation ministry signals a shift toward more informed and coordinated policymaking.
He concluded that for Nigeria to emerge as a competitive aviation hub, deliberate efforts must be made to scale up airlines, improve infrastructure, and deliver service standards that meet global expectations.
