The Nigerian Federal Government (FG) is facilitating the registration of four new airlines which would fully begin domestic services by 2013, following a shutdown of two of its major domestic flyers, leaving passengers at the mercy of a duopoly.
In June, the FG suspended Dana Air operations after a failed engine of one of its planes caused a crash killing all 159 passengers on board. Jimoh Ibrahim, owner of the country’s national carrier Air Nigeria, in September, fired a majority of his staff citing disloyalty and grounded operations for a year.
According to a BusinessDay, an aviation source said: “In the last few months the situation has been dramatic due to the grounding of Air Nigeria, Dana Air and when Arik stopped operation for three days Aero’s lack of capacity led to the suffering of passengers.”
The source furthered saying for “the domestic routes, Arik and Aero can be described as a duopoly because of their relatively higher capacity.”
The other few airlines flying domestic routes in Nigeria have very few aircraft in their fleet, insufficient to challenge the unfavourable duopoly.
According to reports, the FG urged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to speed up registration of airlines that have met outlined conditions, seeing local air passengers are paying exorbitant fares for flight tickets.
Local flights from the nation’s capital Abuja, could skyrocket to as much as 40,000 naira ($254) at peak periods.
In a bid to salvage the troubled industry, the Stella Oduah-led Ministry of Aviation is in a collaborative effort with financial lenders to give single digit long terms loans to airline operators, including those that have temporarily halted operations, to assist them acquire modern aircraft.
The disbursement of the fund and the acquisition of the aircrafts, would be monitored by the industry regulator and concerned banks.
In June, the FG suspended Dana Air operations after a failed engine of one of its planes caused a crash killing all 159 passengers on board. Jimoh Ibrahim, owner of the country’s national carrier Air Nigeria, in September, fired a majority of his staff citing disloyalty and grounded operations for a year.
According to a BusinessDay, an aviation source said: “In the last few months the situation has been dramatic due to the grounding of Air Nigeria, Dana Air and when Arik stopped operation for three days Aero’s lack of capacity led to the suffering of passengers.”
The source furthered saying for “the domestic routes, Arik and Aero can be described as a duopoly because of their relatively higher capacity.”
The other few airlines flying domestic routes in Nigeria have very few aircraft in their fleet, insufficient to challenge the unfavourable duopoly.
According to reports, the FG urged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to speed up registration of airlines that have met outlined conditions, seeing local air passengers are paying exorbitant fares for flight tickets.
Local flights from the nation’s capital Abuja, could skyrocket to as much as 40,000 naira ($254) at peak periods.
In a bid to salvage the troubled industry, the Stella Oduah-led Ministry of Aviation is in a collaborative effort with financial lenders to give single digit long terms loans to airline operators, including those that have temporarily halted operations, to assist them acquire modern aircraft.
The disbursement of the fund and the acquisition of the aircrafts, would be monitored by the industry regulator and concerned banks.
Source: VenturesAfrica
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