The inherent commercial and operational weaknesses of Nigeria’s airlines is one of the major causes of their fortunes having continued to decline, the Managing Director of Travelden, a subsidiary of Finchglow Holdings, Gbenga Onitilo, has said.
Speaking with The Guardian on Monday in Lagos, Onitilo insisted the challenges confronting the carriers are beyond the country’s difficult economic environment.
Data recently released by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) showed that domestic passenger traffic fell by 6.46 per cent in 2024, with some industry analysts saying the drop was beyond just foreign exchange (FX) volatility, high aviation fuel costs and infrastructure deficits.
Onitilo admitted that macroeconomic pressures remained significant, but noted that poor commercial strategy and weak execution on the part of the airlines had played a major role in the downturn faced by the operators.
He argued that the traffic decline exposed long-standing inefficiencies that had previously been masked by demand surges and periodic fare increases.
He said, unlike global airlines that operate harmonised fleets to reduce maintenance, training and operational costs, many domestic airlines run fragmented fleets with multiple aircraft types.
This, he said, leads to higher maintenance expenses, spare parts complexity and inefficient crew deployment. Onitilo maintained that as passenger demand weakens, grounded aircraft turn into financial liabilities for operators.
He said: “Globally competitive airlines do not merely acquire aircraft; they curate fleets. Harmonised fleet strategy – limited aircraft types, predictable maintenance cycles and aligned crew training, drive cost discipline and operational resilience.
Onitilo also observed that staffing had emerged as a major challenge for the airlines, stressing that several of them operate with bloated workforce structures that were not in alignment with fleet size or aircraft utilisation. He maintained that it contrasted with international best practices, where staffing ratios are tightly linked to productivity.
The Travelden Managing Director pointed out that some domestic airlines continued to operate routes primarily for visibility, rather than profitability.
He added that poor frequency planning, inefficient departure times and thin routes flown without partnerships or feeder traffic had all contributed to weak yields and rising losses for the operators, maintaining that data-driven route economics, rather than sentiment, were critical to airline sustainability.
Besides, Onitilo expressed that modern airlines rely heavily on dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, and inventory control to optimise revenues, while many Nigerian airlines still depend largely on fare increases to offset inefficiencies.
He added, “Perhaps the most critical gap is the absence of robust revenue management structures. Dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, inventory control and segmentation are no longer optional; they are the nervous system of modern airlines.
