Onyema, Air Peace Chairman Faults Aviation Industry Expert Advice

L-R: Chairman, Airpeace, Airlline Dr. Alen Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, African Aviation, Mr. Nick Fadugba and Managing Director, Selective Security, Mr. Ayo Obilana during the 22nd Annual Seminar of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, (LAAC) held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on 19/07/2018.

By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos

Chairman, Air Peace Airline, Allen Onyema has faulted some the Aviation Industry Experts advice to the Federal government, noting that they misled government and industry operators with their self-serving proposals/recommendations.

Also, blaming government for failure to protect domestic airlines from dominance of Foreign airline operators, he described the experts as one of the problems faced in the industry.

Onyema, who spoke at the 22nd League of Airport and Aviation Correspondence (LACC) Annual seminar and Award/ Gala night themed “Financing Aviation Development Through Private Sector Partnerships”, inLagos, blamed them as being responsible for the ill fate of the sector with their faulty advice to government.

Onyema, who was the chairman of the occasion cited the proposal of size of fleet an operator should have before going into operations as proposed by some industry experts, and described it as contradictory to the growth and development of the industry.

He said: “Then there was a concoction that for airlines to survive they have to be forced to merge or have twenty aircraft, I say and pardon my words, that is balderdash.

“You cannot force airlines to merge, like the previous speaker said, you need to try to create synergy by interline not force them to merge or say they need to have 20 aircraft. All over the world there are airlines with two , sometimes one aircraft and they operate within their capacity. If it’s only Lagos- Abuja they fly to they fly. You do not say because they have one aircraft they have to die.”

Speaking on Government support on the industry, he alarmed that the Government has failed in protecting the industry with its security blanket there by contributing immensely to foreign Airlines robbing the Nigerian market.

According to him, allowing foreign carriers to originate their flights from Nigeria is a rape on the economy which requires urgent review of multiple entry points for foreign carriers. He insists that interline agreement with local operators is the way to go.

“ASKY was established in Togo and their population is not as many as Lagos yet they are flying into Nigeria and other countries meaning their market is not Togo yet when we (AirPeace) wanted to go there, we were given approval in Nigeria only to get there and we were told we cannot fly.

I went to the media and also threatened to file legal action and then someone comes to me and says don’t go to court? This is supposed to be where the country stands up for the airline but no. Eventually they decide to give us the approvals we need to fly them they charge $5000 landing and yet we say we are protecting our own, Up until now, we are not flying into Cote’dvoire because of their ludicrous charges yet Air Cote’dvoire flies here, so how have we protected our airlines from being fleeced.” he said.

The blanket endorsement of the African Open Skies through Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), he cautioned should be viewed with suspicion without considering the effects on indigenous carriers through lopsided bilateral and multilateral air services agreements.

Speaking on the National Carriers, he said: “if you say it’s a national carrier and it is private investors driven are you not saying it is just investors like me, Alhaji Bankole and other investors? So you are simply saying that government is just supporting another private airline?

” I do not have a problem with the national carrier per se it is welcome but it must not be given any undue advantage over other airlines as the owners are investors too. Now, as this airline is coming on stream are they going to take routes already allocated to other airlines and give it to this carrier? These are the things government has not told us.”

Also speaking Director General of Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mr Babatunde Irukera, who spoke on “Boosting Confidence and Increasing Traffic in Aviation” raised posers about the involvement of the CPC in the affairs of the aviation sector, which he said has been a recurring decimal.

He proposed cooperation between operators and regulators to focus on air travel as a mode for relaxation and not aggravators.

Chairman, LAAC Mr. Olusegun Koiki identified financing as a major factor militating against a viable and sustainable aviation business.

He said the industry could get around the challenge through a public / private sector collaboration.