Aircrafts not optimally utilised in Nigeria – United Nigeria chairman
Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, the Chairman, United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) in this interview with OLUSEGUN KOIKI, speaks about the minimum six aircraft policy of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), delays and cancellations and the plan of the airline to commence regional and international operations. Excerpts:
Sir, what is your opinion about the policy of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to up minimum aircraft to six from three for operating airlines in the country?
I believe that the business model for airlines should be their prerogative.
You may be surprised to know that there are Air Operator Certificate (AOC) owners in this country who are members of AON and they have one only helicopter servicing the oil industry.
When you go to other parts of the world, there are people who have just three aircraft, servicing one airport to the other. They want to remain there. They are not forced to grow.
So, the issue is that the numbers of aircraft you have do not determine how fast you get to your destination. It doesn’t solve the problem of delay. If the problem of delay is as a result of VIP movement, if you have 100 aircraft, they will remain on the land.
Some of the problems of delays are due to weather and you can’t land into an airport because the Instrument Landing System (ILS) is not calibrated for the necessary equipment and they are not available.
There is nothing you can do. We think that as soon as all the relevant bodies are able to provide the necessary infrastructure, and create the right environment, this problem will solve itself.
Only two or three per cent of delay factors could be attributed to the operators because every aircraft owner knows that you only make money when your aircraft is flying. Aircraft on the ground, whether you fly or not, incurs expenses and when the time comes for the maintenance to be made and the lease to be paid, nobody asks you whether you fly or not.
So, it pays us to fly and the only time airlines make money is when they sell the ticket. And they don’t make money when the ticket is sold, but when the ticket is used, because when people come for a refund, you don’t make money from that.
So, we are the number one beneficiary if an aircraft leaves timely and the customers get to their destinations and we know that from practical experience, the solution is not from the number of aircraft.
If they insist that we should have some aircraft at the airport waiting to come and cover some passengers, that doesn’t show commercial sense. So, we believe that they should leave people to choose the number of aircraft they want to have.
The minimum they have, which is three now, is already good enough and for us who are in the industry, we want people to come in as much as possible.
Again, I want them to know that the few we have now already operating internally, are facing a grave infrastructural deficit.
Some of the airports don’t even have enough parking space for the number of aircraft that have come in. The check-in counters we have at busy airports are not enough, even the manpower.
Do you know what it takes if you insist on a minimum of six aircraft? You are about tripling the number of manpower and the maintenance too will be high and so forth. It will be bad to make this kind of decision at this time of economic downpour. This thing must be considered.
We think that the space we have now is not enough. You need to expand the airport three times, the check-in counters, and increase all the facilities.
There could be many aircraft needed. We are short of aircraft no doubt about that, but it could be clearly be the business model of the company to decide and besides, if you look at the number of aircraft being signed now waiting for delivery, in the next two to three years, we should have about 100 aircraft into this country by the existing operators and we are already talking about the need for improved infrastructure. I think that should be our focus for now.
How far have you gone with the plan to commence regional and international flights?
We have made our demands to our destinations, the routes can never be started the same day, but the processes to kick them off are a long process.
We have to keep them in the pipeline, but I can assure you that there is a huge interest towards us in times of interlining agreements, point-to-point agreements and services, those things are already going on and we are already negotiating.
On our own, we are ready to start as soon as we are able to clear all the necessary certifications that are meant for us in some key destinations, but if you ask us our preferred destinations internationally, we are looking at the United Kingdom, Italy, Dubai and the United States.
These four are at the top of our priority for the first phase of our international operations.
For the regional, in a few weeks, we should be heading to Ghana. We have finished all the processes that are needed to be done in Ghana, it is just for us to fix our date and take-off from there. We will then be adding other regions to it.
There is this argument that aircraft are not optimally utilised in Nigeria due to various reasons, what is your say on this?
A typical aircraft in Nigeria will do six to eight sectors; if you have airports with facilities, you could do 10 to 12 sectors.
A typical aircraft can fly 18 hours in a day. The aircraft we have in Nigeria are under-utilised. We fly only for eight hours and an aircraft is produced to fly 18 hours in a day.
So, if you have aircraft that are under-utilised because of sunset airports, and the travel culture that people can only travel in the morning, up to 6p.m when there is light, then, why do we need to add another one to what is already under-utilised?
So, the focus should be how do we work to ensure that we maximise utilization of the aircraft? When we have that we will not have the pressure of travelling. You will even pay cheaper because flying in the early hours will be cheaper than flying in prime hours.
And for us who are leasing aircraft, you are more attracted to a lessor who knows you can utilise his aircraft for higher hours, but in Nigeria, the much you can sign is 150 to 200 hours a month.
The aircraft we use here for 150 to 200 hours in a month are used about 3,000 hours in a month overseas, especially during the summer. And our airspace here is short range; 45 minutes, one hour.
So, these are parts of the challenges that we are having. The issue here is that the law already exists, and the NCAA approves their schedules and designations.
AON has consistently argued for cancellation of 8th and 9th freedom for foreign airlines, do you think the domestic airlines have the capacity to fill in the gap?
There is no reason for it to have existed in the first place. What this simply means is that you will land in Lagos, pick passengers in Port Harcourt and then you come back to fly out.
There is no part of the world where this is done. In America, you can’t do it, even with your private jet. You can only land in one point and follow local operators or you charter a jet.
That is why we have codesharing, partnering. If you land in Lagos, go to Port Harcourt to pick passengers and return to Lagos to London for instance, who will I carry from Port Harcourt to Lagos? Each country protects its own domestic carrier. It should be point-to-point, land here and take off from there.
We allowed it because some people argue for the wrong reason. If you argue that we can’t fly to London for instance, can you also argue that we can’t fly from Lagos to Port Harcourt and to Abuja? This is just done as a blatant disregard to the interest of the local operators. Whoever granted those things is not wishing us well and such a person should be punished.
It shows you how hostile the environment you operate in is. You can’t discuss this anywhere if it is not in Nigeria. How many local operators? You still fly to Port Harcourt for instance with empty seats.
I think that in the new arrangement with the new minister and with the AON coming up strongly, we are going to sit down soon and harmonise these things so that the issue of interline should come back to the business of our aviation. It was there before. It is inevitable. Codesharing should also be a factor. We want all of them addressed.
We hope that the minister in his plan to review the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA), will factor all those things in. When those things are done correctly, you can be rest assured that it will strengthen the local airline operators.
How can we permanently address the issue of flight delays and cancellations?
It is obvious that out of 100 reasons where there will be flight delays; may be only two or three could be attributed to the airlines alone. The rest are beyond the control of the operators.
I also want us to know that we are looking for the best, we are looking for the potential this industry has. If you look deeply, compare the aviation sector to the other sectors in Nigeria, from the discussions we are having with most of our friends here, we can easily say we are the most resilient industry in this country, in view of the current economic situation we found ourselves in.
Airlines open and close, but you have had more banks, industries close down than airlines. It is just because of the environment we are in.
