Nigeria to introduce slot system for foreign airlines soon
The Nigerian Government is planning to introduce a slot system in a bid to address the present imbalance in the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) arrangements with other countries.
Speaking with aviation journalists recently at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said that the agency in collaboration with the Ministry of Aviation was working frantically to address the present challenge through the introduction of a slot system for foreign airlines.
According to Nuhu, no country or airport management anywhere in the world would continue to hide under “unfair” commercial slot allocations to deny Nigerian carriers access to their country, whereas their own carriers are granted unhindered access to the country’s airports.
He agreed that the Nigerian Government had made some mistakes in the past on slot allocations and vowed that such would be addressed very soon.
He said: “Believe me, we are working on that and it is going to be tit-for-tat. Let me use an example and I am not saying that is what we are going to do, but just as an example. If a Nigerian airline is going to the United Kingdom and they insist that the Nigerian airline must buy slots, then any British airline that is coming into Nigeria will need to pay for slots, too. If you tell me a particular airline from Nigeria cannot go to Heathrow because you cannot get slots, then, their airline too cannot come into Lagos because of slot issues.
“If you tell me a particular airline from Nigeria must pay, for instance, 100,000 pounds to operate to Heathrow, then, their own airline will have to pay the same amount of money to operate to Lagos. It is going to be reciprocity. We cannot hide under the issue of slots to give unfair commercial advantages to foreign airlines over Nigerian airlines. We had made mistakes in the past, we have learnt from our mistakes and we are going to correct the mistakes.
“Lagos Airport was built for less than 300,000 passengers in 1979 and the airport is doing more than 8 million passengers annually now and you are telling them your airport is doing above capacity, Lagos Airport is doing far above 1,000 per cent capacity. It is no longer acceptable. No one should come here and give us stories.”
On his assessment of the Nigerian aviation industry in 2021, Nuhu declared that the country had exceeded COVID-19 pandemic in domestic operations, while international operation was climbing albeit gradually.
He explained that despite COVID-19, domestic airlines have continued to grow in passenger traffic, while no fewer than 10 aircraft are on wet-lease to fill in the gap of the demands in the system.
The NCAA helmsman explained that the agency had given lots of Air Operators’ Certificates (AOCs) in 2021 alone, adding that about 15 others are in the pipeline.
“We have airports propping up all over the place and a lot of maintenance organisations are coming up. For us to achieve the growth we have now, we (agencies, ministries, stakeholders and the media) are doing something right that is building investors’ confidence in the system. The investors are willing to put their money in the system and grow the industry.
“We will continue that way and hopefully, we want to get to a place where aviation plays very significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a short and medium terms; at least 5 per cent.
“Also, the growth is stretching the infrastructure. So, sometimes, clogs are created here and there because the system has been stretched.
Meanwhile, Nuhu has been rewarded with the Outstanding Leadership Award by the organisers of Nigeria Aviation (NIGAV) award.
A statement by Mr. Sam Adurogoboye, stated that apart from Nuhu, NCAA also received two other awards – Ease-of-Doing- Business and Business Climate Improvement Award 2021.
The awards were received by Nuhu in the company of Engr. Kayode Ajiboye, the Director of Airworthiness Standards (DAWS), Adurogboye and other staff of NCAA present at the occasion.
He said that Nuhu commended the organisers for the triple awards, promising that the authority would not rest on its oars towards ensuring safe, secure and passenger-friendly air transportation in Nigeria.
“This chain of awards is a challenge to the NCAA not to fail,” he said.
However, he promised that the NCAA would continue to ensure strict compliance to safety regulations in the interest of safer skies.
