ASRTI urges FG to replace Nigeria Air with three flag carriers

•Air Peace replies ex-minister on capacity, debts

Piqued by the controversies rocking the Nigeria Air project, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) has urged the Federal Government to ditch the national carrier plan for more sustainable private sector-driven flag carriers.

ASRTI, a think-tank group of the aviation sector in Nigeria, said the Nigeria Air episode had again validated the claim that the modern government has no business floating an airline, but to create the enabling environment for prospective private investors.

The body of aviation professionals proposed a reconfiguration of the current local airlines into three strong flag carriers, to represent Nigeria on both regional and continental routes.

President of the ASRTI, Dr. Gabriel Olowo, said given that Nigerians are very sensitive to the question of a national airline, it would be most strategic for the new administration to completely steer clear of aviation businesses.

Olowo reiterated that the airline business is best left to the private sector and its stakeholders.
Therefore, “the government should see to it that the 20 or more licensed airline operators in Nigeria today form two to three strong alliances, or merge to serve as Nigeria’s flag carriers.

“Each alliance must be such that parades aircraft fleet size of 50 each – through direct leases, acquisitions, and so on. The three carriers will in total be parading 150 aircraft to equate what Ethiopian Airline (ET) (the largest airline in Africa) today operates on more than 150 domestic and international destinations across five continents,” Olowo said.

He added that a large operational fleet, and not shared capital, is what guarantees good On Time Performance (OTP) and efficient services of airlines.

To support the new flag carriers against feisty aeropolitics, Olowo said the new administration must ensure that all Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) are reviewed for competitive reciprocity with full government backing to the three flag carriers that will reciprocate to all the destinations currently operated by foreign airlines only.

The president recalled that banking regulators made mergers happen successfully in the banking sector, and today, the country can boast of a strong and competitive banking sector.

“Aviation regulator (the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority) must do the same for aviation. Certainly, there is a huge advantage awaiting the country from having three reliable Nigerian flag carriers, instead of one national carrier. The advantages include economic tariffs, efficient passenger experience, curb in brain drain, reduction in foreign airline home remittances, and decrease in unemployment, among others.”

In a related development, Air Peace airline’s management has flayed the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, over comments on its alleged weakness in adequately representing the country in international aviation.

The leading local airline said Sirika had been all out to unfairly demarket Nigerian operators, just to favour Ethiopian Airlines (ET) in the Nigeria Air project.

Chief Operating Officer of the airline, Toyin Olajide, said the ex-ministers claims about Air Peace were all lies.
“Firstly, Sirika, in his bid to denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline, stated that we leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months, and incurred losses of $19 million, while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when we were ready to fly. He went on to ask, “who does that?” He stated that Ethiopian Airlines would never do that.

“This is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft, which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outrightly by the airline. Air Peace never incurred such a loss. We never paid rentals contrary to his lies. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the aircraft by Air Peace.

“Secondly, Sirika said the airline stopped flying to Dubai because ‘we lack capacity’. This is another lie. Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of a lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations into the UAE in July 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.

“For the former minister to ascribe the suspension to ‘lack of capacity’ is not only shocking but also shows how keen he is to disparage an airline whose ascendancy has defied all the commercial odds, and hostile environment placed on its path to continue to serve our nation proudly,” Olajide said.

She queried how could an airline that placed a firm order for 13 brand new E2-195 aircraft, a firm order of 15 Boeing 737 Max 8 & Max 10, with over 30 aircraft already in its existing fleet be accused of lacking in capacity.

“We implore the general public to disregard these lies told by the former Minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the TV interview.

“We take serious exception to a situation where Air Peace is being misrepresented in the public sphere, causing wrong perceptions about our brand,” Olajide said.