The Federal Government has been blamed for the early collapse of indigenous airlines in the country.
Ibn Na’Allah, a stakeholder in the country’s aviation industry and a former member of the House of Representatives, blamed the Government for not creating a conducive environment for the carriers to blossom and called on it to take a critical look at the operations of the airlines.
“Like I have always said, where is Dasab, Sosliso, ADC, Chanchangi and EAS Airlines among others? They have all gone. The question to ask is ‘Is the operating environment conducive enough for the survival of these airlines?’ The answer is no and that is what we want the government to look at,” he said.
On the drastic reduction in airfares by indigenous operators, Na’Allah emphasised that fares are dictated by a number of factors, which vary from time to time.
He however advised government to focus on procurement of more safety gadgets for most of the airports in the country.
“Let me give you an example: Ilorin Airport has one of the worst weather problems with low cloud every morning. If you put an Instrument Landing System (ILS) into that airport, it’s better than remodelling. Ibadan is an important alternate airport to Lagos.
“I have always said it; passengers must first of all land safely before they begin to look at where they will stand whether they are comfortable or not. So, safety being a critical factor in the aviation industry when you are doing a project, you should prioritise along that line. This is the only observation that I see that is being done wrongly.”
Meanwhile, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) has stressed the need for the establishment of a new national carrier in the country to curb losses in the aviation sector.
in its Secretariat, Comrade
Benjamin Okewu, its national president, said while playing host to executive members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) in Lagos, that Nigeria had lost huge amounts of money through the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA), as there had been no national carriers that fly major routes out of the country.
Okewu noted that other foreign airlines have taken advantage of the absence of a national carrier to explore the country’s aviation sector.
He advised government to discard the idea of forming a national carrier from existing airlines but to come up with a new airline entirely.
“Without our airlines flying into other countries from Nigeria, we are losing a lot of money; there is need for a new national carrier. The government should stop carrying from the existing airlines to form national carrier. A tokunbo is a tokunbo, we need a new airline not from the existing fleets,” he said.
