Domestic airlines’ top guns birth ‘Spring Alliance’ for better service

BY: Sade Williams/Business a.m.

Nigerian domestic airline operators are pushing steadily towards working together to deliver better services and give richly enhanced customer experience like their counterparts do in advanced markets, it is beginning to emerge.

Last week, six of them, including Nigeria’s and West Africa’s largest airline by fleet size, Air Peace, Azman Air, United Nigeria Airline, Arik Air, Aero Contractors and Max Air joined their air wings to form what is now the biggest alliance in Nigeria’s aviation industry, which they have named, ‘Spring Alliance’

They explained that through Spring Alliance they will mutually support each other’s operations and surpass the expectations of the flying public.

Aviation industry watchers say it is long overdue, citing developments in other parts of the world where airlines team up to share services instead of going it alone, thereby saving passengers a lot of distress when an airline finds it cannot meet its obligation.

This is the first time the big players in the industry are forming an alliance of this nature, and industry analysts told Business a.m. over the weekend, that beyond just helping each other with operational challenges, they see the alliance acting more broadly, especially looking to set standards within the industry.

There was some frenzy last year when Ibom Air and Dana Air announced a codeshare alliance. But the six airlines have not presented this alliance in the form of a codeshare, suggesting it is a much broader arrangement.

Allen Onyema, chairman, Air Peace, and vice-president, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), stated that the Spring Alliance is for the benefit of the passengers who fly with the six airlines.

“In the Aviation world, we have so many alliances airlines key into. We have the Star Alliance; there is One World and several others. And airlines decide to key into those alliances for the benefit of both the passengers and the airlines themselves,” Onyema said.

Continuing he said: “So, today, in Nigeria, the 8th day of March 2022, some airlines in Nigeria notably, Air Peace, Azman Air, Arik Air, Aero Contractors, Max Air & United Nigeria have decided to come together to form what we call the Spring Alliance.

“The name of this alliance is Spring Alliance. We decided to come together to do this for the benefit of the flying public that use the opportunities provided by these airlines to fly.

“By this alliance our passengers are protected whenever there is a problem with one airline. It is our response to the complaints of the flying public, so this alliance will enable us to satisfy them.

“But with this alliance and what we are going to be doing henceforth, the flying public will reap the benefit. For example if Air Peace has a tech issue on any of its aircraft, the passengers of Air Peace need not to be delayed, if any member of this alliance is going to the same destination, all we need to do is move the passengers over to that other airline, a member of the alliance, at no further cost to the passenger.” Onyema explained.

He stressed that the initiative to form the alliance is a noble one, representing a revolution in Nigeria’s aviation sector, while urging other airlines to tap into the benefits offered by the alliance by joining.

He said that the Spring Alliance is not limited to Nigerian airlines alone, as other African airlines may wish to join, adding that the alliance originated from Nigeria, but is open to the world.

“This will help aviation, it will help the sustainability of our operations, it will help the cause of the flying public to experience seamless commuting whenever they choose to.

“This is where we are today, so we are hereby putting our signatories to these papers today, launching this idea that will revolutionise Nigeria’s scheduled flight operations for the better,” Onyema asserted.

Abdullahi Mahmood, managing director, Aero Contractors, noted that the formation of the Spring Alliance is a historic move, one that prioritises the satisfaction of the passenger.

“History has been made here today in Nigeria, and this is the first time something like this is happening in Nigeria’s aviation industry. You can see that the airline operators are fully committed to making sure that our passengers are satisfied,” Mahmood said.

Obiora Okonkwo, CEO of United Nigeria Airline, said the alliance would revolutionise flight services for the Nigerian flying public, as passenger satisfaction is the major objective behind the formation of the alliance.

“There’s no doubt that Nigerian airlines are going through some situations and part of the way to react to this is to have the passengers in mind. It is simply thinking out-of-the-box. We are not reinventing the wheel, we are just adopting what we have seen that has worked in other places, and it will surely work in Nigeria so that the passengers going to the airport are more guaranteed that they will fly,” Okonkwo said.