BY LOUIS IBA
Passenger patronage of domestic airlines in Nigeria rose by 20 per cent between 2013 and 2014, according to a recent industry data obtained by Daily Sun. The data sourced from domestic airline operators attributed the increase to “signs that the larger economy was witnessing a growth although it, noted that the increased patronage did not translate to higher profit margins for operators. About a decade ago, a lull had hit the aviation industry following the reluctance of Nigerians to fly owing to the poor airworthiness of most operational aircraft and obsolete navigational and weather forecast facilities, which culminated in frequent air crashes claiming hundreds of lives of passengers. The industry also had issues with the poor state of the airports and poor regulatory environment.
“But between 2013 and 2014, passenger growth on domestic routes went up by about 20 per cent meaning that more Nigerians are now taking the convenient option of flying to their destinations with domestic carriers than go by road,” said the report obtained on Tuesday. “Aviation is a barometer for measuring an economy. One of the ways to check the pulse of an economy is to observe whatever happens to the flow of passenger traffic in the domestic airline industry. “There had been a lull particularly after the Dana Air crash of 2012. Traffic slumped. It hovered around three million and at its peak four million. But between 2013 and 2014, passenger traffic rose to above 14 million, which clearly shows signs that the larger economy was witnessing growth,” it added. Four airports were listed as attracting the highest volume of passengers: Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Owerri, while airports in the crisis-ridden North East of Nigeria ranked as the lowest in terms of passenger patronage.
But the fortunes of the local airlines could be improved if government policies like the various bilateral air deals that allow foreign carriers operate multiple designated routes can be reversed. Daily Sun checks revealed that the quest to boost patronage by existing and some newly licensed airlines has led to the introduction of online or pre-booking schemes, which is accompanied by a slash in airfares ranging between 30 and 40 per cent on the economy seats on such lucrative routes as the Lagos-Abuja; Lagos-Port Harcourt; Lagos- Uyo; Lagos-Kano; Abuja-Port Harcourt and Abuja -Uyo; Lagos-Owerri; Lagos-Enugu, among others.
Some of the airlines cutting down airfares to attract customers include Dana, Aero Contractors, First Nation, Med-View Airlines and newly licenced airlines, Azman Airlines. Azman, which flies the Lagos-Abuja and Lagos- Kano routes leads the pact of operators reducing fares as it charges between N10,000 and N11,000 for its economy class on those routes, which ordinarily goes for as much as N24,000 to N30,000. Customers on the Lagos-Abuja route are now being charged between N17, 000 and N18,000 by First Nation, Med-View and Aero Contractors.
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=105515
