Barely three months after the resumption of international flights into Nigeria, flights from the UK, the most frequently visited destination by Nigerians, may soon be placed on ban by the Federal Government over highly contagious new variant of coronavirus.
The UK last week warned of a new coronavirus variant thought to be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original strain of the disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new variant has so far been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Romania and Ireland have banned all passenger flights from the UK, and there are indications that Nigeria will soon do the same.
No doubt, this development will impact Nigeria’s travel industry, still struggling to recover from the impact of the lockdown that lasted for five months.
Tayo Ojuri, industry expert/CEO, Aglo Limited, an aviation support service firm, told BusinessDay that restricting travel from the UK would affect Nigeria’s travel sector as 49 percent of Nigerians in diaspora reside in Europe and about 35 percent reside in North America (Canada and the US).
Ojuri explained that with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) processing about 8 million international passengers annually, Nigerian international airports process about 1.8 million passengers in December only.
According to Ojuri, with the new strain, the FAAN has noticed a drastic reduction in passenger traffic to about 75 percent. This implies that about 450,000 international passengers were expected to arrive or depart the country but these numbers may further decline with the expected travel ban from passengers arriving from the UK.
This will affect aviation jobs in Nigeria such as fuel suppliers, inflight catering, airline staff and ground handlers, among others, he noted further.
Susan Akporiaye, president, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), told BuisnessDay that travel agents have lost about 40 percent of the market share as a result of COVID-19, and restriction of travel from the UK will further spell doom for the travel industry.
Akporiaye said she was not in support of stopping Nigerian travellers from travelling to or coming from the UK, but however advised that rather than restrict travel to the UK, the government should enforce COVID-19 compliance, where people would be made to carry out the COVID-19 test before and after arrival and self-isolate for 14 days.
The reason the UK is experiencing a new coronavirus strain was because before now, the UK did not require COVID-19 tests from travellers but Nigeria has continued to ensure that all travellers must have their test results before arriving the country, she explained.
For Ikechi Uko, a travel expert, the best thing to do is for the government to stop flights from the UK for at least two weeks or get ready for a second lockdown, which would worsen the country’s economy.
“There is a new strain of COVID-19 virus in the UK and this should have alerted us immediately to stop travels from the UK. We already have a new strain locally. We are unable to enforce the rule for people to put on their facemasks, how then can we enforce 14 days isolation for travellers and COVID-19 tests after seven days?
“It is easier to restrict travel from the UK for two weeks than face a second lockdown in January, and we all know lockdown spells doom for the economy and the travel industry.
“The Federal Government needs to find out why Europe and the UK are shutting down. There is something they know they are not telling us. To stop travels to and from the UK for two weeks will be safe for everyone. The cases are rising and people are still coming back from the UK,” Uko explained.
Seyi Adewale, ceo of Mainstream Cargo Limited, told BDSunday that travel restrictions from the UK would definitely impact Nigeria’s aviation industry significantly negatively.
Adewale noted Nigeria’s aviation ground handling companies who earn income through aircraft turnaround and passenger services might end Q4 2020 financial results in the negative, adding that they have already posted Q3 financial losses.
He said the same applied to travel agencies and FAAN’s income through passenger taxes.
BusinessDay’s checks show that Nigerian Aviation Handling Company plc (NAHCO Aviance) posted a N165.9 million loss for second quarter 2020 and estimates for third quarter loss is still above N100 million.
Skypower Aviation Handling Company plc (SAHCO) posted a N98.3 million loss for half year and is estimated that they will still be in the negative zone by the end of third quarter.
