The ‘New Normal’ for Nigerian aviation industry

For the first time in world history, about 90% of the world’s citizens have been restricted from travelling, either to return home or to destinations of choice. Without a doubt, the most affected in travel & tourism is the aviation industry.

An estimated 25 million aviation jobs and 100 million travel and tourism jobs across the globe are at risk. That is not all; the growth recorded in the industry in the last seven years would potentially be lost across the world.

Coming back home, in Nigeria, most of the local airlines have either forced their workers to embark on unpaid leave, slashed salaries or dismissed their workforce. This is how Coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought the global and Nigerian aviation to a standstill.

Experts at the Institute of Directors’ webinar titled “Impact of COVID-19 on Aviation Sector: The Way forward” which was covered by Nairametrics, emphasized that Nigeria would fly again, but things would not be the same. According to them, the pandemic would birth “a new normal” in the aviation industry.

At the webinar, which was moderated by the immediate past President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), the experts that were selected across the industry agreed that the new normal would be challenging but must be adhered if the industry must survive the outbreak.

Even if borders reopened, Managing Director, Aero Contractor Airline, Captain Aso Sanusi, explained that travellers must trust that boarding a plane was safe and that they would be able to enter the destination country.

The most immediate and perhaps most visible change the industry will witness is social distancing or touchless travel.