Data exposes failure of aviation hierarchy to position Nigerian airlines for global play

PHILLIP ISAKPA IN MANCHESTER, UK

A set of data showing the number of scheduled flights in and out of Africa for the month of December has shown the monumental failings of Nigerian aviation policy hierarchy over the years to position the sector, especially its indigenous operators, to take advantage of a large world aviation market along with its opportunities to put their footprints in the African and global aviation space.

The data from Cirium shows that this December alone, over 100 airlines have scheduled flights to and from Africa to serve various cities in all regions of the continent. However, the data curiously indicates that out of all the airlines on which in and out Africa bookings have been made, 50 percent of the top 10 airlines operating intercontinental flights from Africa are European.

While the other 50 percent consists of African  carriers, the data shockingly shows that Africa’s biggest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) and by population size, Nigeria, is completely absent from this list, showing the gross underdevelopment of its aviation business. Analysts say such data ought to be regularly picked up by the country’s policy makers so they can provide effective responses after feeling the shame of the absence of the country’s airlines from such a grouping.

Nigerian carriers under their umbrella association, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have often complained of lack of support from the government and the government not seen to be deliberate in building the local aviation industry and positioning it to be both profitable for operators and to be globally competitive.

For instance, Nigeria has in place bilateral air service agreements (BASA) with many countries, but while Nigerian officials are always eager to implement such agreements with other countries, Nigerian carriers often find that they run into crisis when they seek to operate flights into some of those countries for which BASAs are in place. Operators say when such challenges occur they are often left to face them alone.

Nigeria’s biggest carrier, Air Peace, has often found itself in such entanglements especially in the two popular routes of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and London in the United Kingdom, the latter of which took it at least two years to be given approval to return, with Nigeria’s aviation policy leaders staying silent most of the way.

Not long ago, the AON lamented how billions of naira were being lost annually to multiple designations granted to foreign carriers, warning that if the policy continued unabated the domestic airlines might suffer, while the foreign airlines would eventually take over the domestic market, with the multiple designation described as a great disservice to the Nigerian economy and its people.

AON said: “All the foreign airlines that come into Nigeria, every day the Central Bank Governor cries about the amount of money being repatriated abroad. We are talking about scarcity of foreign exchange in the country, but the foreign airlines are removing billions of dollars every year from this country, and airlines in Nigerians have been hassled with lots of requests on how to repatriate dollars into the system. Where are we going to get it from?

“Yet we are creating more avenues for these things to happen by giving multiple destinations to these foreign airlines. All the foreign airlines that come to this country, maybe about 20 or 30 of them, have not been able to employ more than 15,000 Nigerians.

“We keep on badmouthing Nigerian airlines, forgetting that we are the architects of our own undoing. Air Peace alone employs over 4,000 people directly. It would take foreign airlines another 60 years to generate 4,000 jobs. Yet Air Peace has to beg to be given rights to build a hangar in its own country, it has no land in its own country. No land for its assets and passengers. It didn’t start today,” AON lamented.

Details of the Cirium December flight booking data show that while European carriers make up 50 percent of the top 10, Egyptair is at the top of the list for December with 2,303 scheduled flights and 435,466 seats. The Egyptian national carrier flies from Cairo International Airport (CAI) to over 50 intercontinental destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North and South America, the data further showed.

Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier, according to the Crimium data, has the most one-way flights from Africa among the European airlines. It has 1,762 scheduled flights, with 338,169 seats this December, but it is only serving one African country – Morocco.  According to the data, Ryanair flies from 10 Moroccan airports, as it is benefiting from an open skies agreement between the European Union and Morocco. 

Other details in the data show that Transavia with the second most flights among the European carriers, flies from over 30 African destinations. Most of its routes are from North Africa, including 12 cities in Morocco. It adds that easyJet, another low cost carrier in Europe, has its Africa-Europe routes mainly from Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. Its flights from Morocco connect the country to over 28 destinations, said to be part of its commitment to continue supporting Moroccan tourism.

With low-cost carriers dominating the North African market, the data shows that legacy carriers’ services are more spread throughout the continent. For instance, Air France has over 30 destinations in Africa, including Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Lagos, which it serves with its widebody aircraft. 

Turkish Airlines, which is often included in Cirium’s Skytrax Awards as the “Best Airline in Europe,” flies to over 40 destinations in Africa, with its longest non-stop route being Istanbul to Cape Town. 

There is, however, no Nigerian airline among the five African airlines that are in the top 10 airlines with intercontinental flights in the Cirium data, showing how far behind the Nigerian aviation sector is in Africa and global play. 

North African carriers like Air Algerie and Royal Air Maroc that made the list have the majority of their intercontinental destinations in Europe, with the data showing that only about a quarter of Royal Air Maroc’s intercontinental destinations in December are outside Europe.

For Ethiopian Airlines, its network outside Africa covers over 50 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas.

Other broad data show that African airlines only contribute just over two percent of global air traffic, but are projected to end 2023 with better performance compared to 2022.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and African Airlines Association (AFRAA) project that African airlines will carry a total of 85 million passengers by the end of 2023, an 18 million increase from last year. About 32 percent of the traffic is intercontinental, while 38 percent is domestic, and 30 percent is intra-Africa.

Analysts say data like this ought to be something Nigerian aviation policymakers should be tapping to position the Nigerian aviation sector for global play. They blame officials for being too easily satisfied with little matters and ignoring the huge benefits of working with all indigenous carriers to position them to take advantage of the BASAs that Nigeria has signed with different countries and to build an industry that is seriously competing across Africa, if not the world.