Aviation professionals have raised alarm over the possibility of carriers in Nigeria, and indeed the African continent, facing extinction by 2050 unless they merge their operations to be able to compete.
They predicted that by 2050, only 12 airlines would remain in operations in the globe.
The stakeholders at Nigeria Aviation Summit in Lagos said that despite the fact that merger and consolidation have gained ground in the global aviation industry, airlines in the continent are still foot-dragging on the concept, which they said commenced in Nigeria (USA) in 1930.
Gabriel Olowo, president, Sabre Networks, convener of the conference with the theme, ‘A dozen world airliners by 2050,’ emphasised that Nigerian and African airlines face serious trouble if they do not embrace merger and consolidation.
He explained that the revenue of the three biggest airlines in the continent, Kenyan Airways, Ethiopian and South African Airways, which he put at over $3 billion is just about 35 percent of the annual revenue of Emirates Airlines.
He added that all efforts to ensure merger and consolidation among the continent’s carriers had failed in the past, but stated that merger or consolidation could not be achieved by government coercion.
He also lamented the precarious situation of the Nigerian airlines, saying that there are only 57 aircraft in the fleet of the carriers in the country while an airline like South African Airways had over 67 aircraft in its fleet.
“Nigerian airlines are at the bottom level of success. The six airlines that we have in operations are at the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of revenue, service delivery and good business model.
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“Business climate is shifting from the West to Africa, when that shift comes the continent’s carrier may be caught napping.”
Besides, Tony Kila, chairman of the company, noted that for the continent’s carriers to remain in operations by 2050, they needed to engage in training of their manpower, stressing that people travel for business and pleasures and wanted total satisfaction.
Soji Amusan, former president of the National Association of Nigerian Travelling Agencies (NANTA), emphasised that customer satisfaction, quality services, productivity, profit and cost control would not happen by themselves but the stakeholders in the industry would have to make them happen.
“The level of team work among people determines the success or otherwise of the company. There are about 35 training schools in Lagos alone and out of these numbers only six are certified by IATA despite the claim of the schools that they were approved by the government.”
