Insecurity has administered a huge bite in the oil region with the exit of almost all but one international airline after the sudden exit of Air France last week.
Investigations revealed that insecurity that caused the exodus of companies and their workers that formed the customer base of the international airlines might be at the root of the departures to Lagos and other air cities.
Port Harcourt International Airport, the third busiest airport in Nigeria, has thus come under severe scarcity of international airlines.
The scarcity of the international airlines came to be following the departure of one of the pioneer airlines in the airport, Air France, at the end of March 2019.
According to our correspondent at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, the departure of the Air France can cripple the economic and normal business activities at the airport if urgent measures are not taken to bring the situation under control.
As at last month, three international airlines took off from the airport; the Air France operates from Port Harcourt to Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris, while a private airline, Cronus Airline, shuttles the West African and Central African coasts.
Unfortunately, the decision of Air France to suspend operations from the Port Harcourt last month may put the airport in a tight corner because only Lufthansa Airline would be left to operate the international route.
The management of the French airline had on several occasions given notice of their intention to suspend their operations in Port Harcourt and relocate to Lagos, and so their sudden departure is no longer a secret.
According to our sources from the airport, the departure of the airline will surely affect directly or indirectly the economic and personal fortunes of the state and the Niger Delta region in general.
As at the time of filling this report, several reasons were given for the negative turn of events at the only international airport in the oil and gas rich region in Nigeria.
One of the reasons, also confirmed by the out-going regional manager at the airport, Ojo Afolabi, is the negative dwindling economic fortunes in the Niger Delta region.
The region for some years now had witnessed unrestrained violence occasioned by activities of the Niger Delta militants, agitators and politicians.
Our sources reveal that these violent activities have put pressure on the oil exploration companies operating in the region and have caused the departure of several of them to other safer places in the country.
According to Afolabi, what happened in the region was an exodus of oil companies and other corporate organisations and most of them left with both their foreign and local staff, and which in turn affected the fortunes of the airlines.
Other sources from the airport say the unhealthy business atmosphere at the Port Harcourt International Airport was equally responsible for the misfortunes of the airport.
This factor, our sources explain, is highly regrettable and deplorable because most of them were man-made factors.
Port Harcourt International Airport, apart from the several factors enumerated, lacks enough banks and banking facilities like Automatic Teller Machines (ATMS) and recreational facilities.
