Global carriers are inching towards seamless passenger connection to many destinations, using one ticket booking. Such arrangement – interline/code sharing among domestic carriers – will berth this month in Nigeria as experts canvass regulatory guidance for the pilot scheme, writes KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR
Inconveniences associated with delayed and cancelled flights due to operational reasons will soon be a thing of the past as industry regulator Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is working out a framework to achieve interline and code share agreement among domestic carriers.
The framework, which has reached advanced stage, will see some carriers achieve technical and operational cooperation this month.
According to experts familiar with the development, the cooperation will end incessant delays and flight cancellations by indigenous carriers wrapped under ‘operational reasons’.
The cooperation, which will manifest in the form of code share and interline agreement among the carriers, is coming after two decades of preparation.
When the new regime takes effect, passengers with one ticket booking could travel on any of the partnering carriers to a single or multiple destinations.
To drive the initiative, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ibom Air , Mr. George Uriesi, said the carrier had concluded plans to kick start its code share/interline agreement with another carrier this month.
He said he could not disclose the partnering carrier until regulatory approval and other matters were concluded.
Describing the industry as very competitive because of proliferation of airlines in a small pool of market, Uriesi said carriers were recording many empty seats when the aircraft doors are closed.
He said: “‘We are on the last phase of the interline project. This month, we shall launch the project. The challenge of it is to have partners who are organised and who meet the standards of your company.
“Your work force has to work together, sit together to look at the schedule, and integrate it into your reservation system.”
Investigations by The Nation revealed that the state-funded carrier would be working with Dana Air to see the pilot project to fruition.
In an interview, NCAA Director-General Captain Musa Nuhu said the idea of interline for indigenous carriers was long overdue as it would assist airlines to maximise profit and make air travel enjoyable for passengers by eliminating flight delays and cancellations.
He said: “We are happy about this as a regulatory body. Airlines are supposed to manage their schedules properly.
“These agreements are business decisions by airlines which have benefits for them and passengers. We must all pull our resources and energy together to bring this to fruition.”
Also, President of industry thinktank group, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Dr. Gbenga Olowo, said there could be no better time to achieve cooperation among indigenous carriers.
He said, over the years, poor schedule integrity has eroded the good performance of carriers following passengers complaints of poor services.
He said: “Poor on-time performance, depleting and inadequate fleet have added to the lingering challenges of airlines.
“If we had interline agreement, it would have helped to reduce the hardship faced by passengers who often times faced long hours of delay and in some cases cancellation of flights.”
Also, NCAA’s former Director-General, Dr Harold Demuren, expressing excitement over the development, said the initiative was long overdue.
Demuren said the slow march to achieving interline/code share among carriers had undermined the growth of aviation in the country.
Noting that technology would play a major role in driving the process, Demuren said the sector should take the lead in the deployment of technology to make air travel seamless and enjoyable.
He, however, called for the creation of a domestic clearing house for airlines willing to go into partnership.
He said airlines would need the protection of the regulator to give bite to the interline and code share agreement among them.
Demuren said: “Other countries in Africa and, in particular, West Africa have broken these barriers. The industry needs to support the proposed initiative pioneered by Ibom Air. It is the best way to go for airlines in Nigeria.”
On his part, the representative of International Air Transport Association (IATA) sub-Saharan Africa, Dr. Samson Fatokun, said the time was ripe for Nigerian carriers to integrate into what other carriers had switched on to.
Describing Nigerian carriers as local champions, Fatokun said the proposed arrangement would enable them play in the big league.
He said: “Nigerian carriers do not have attractive network because of their inability to either code share or interline with other carriers. They should see the proposed development as an opportunity to tap into seamless operations.”
To achieve this, Fatokun said the carriers would need to train their personnel on how to generate revenue as well as negotiate commercial agreements.
Worried over the state of the sector, experts at a recent virtual conference, organised by the ASRTI, identified flight cancellation and the perishabililty of unused seats as important challenges to trigger interlining and code-share agreements as tools for minimising hardship experienced by passengers and the enhancement of airlines profitability, quality of service and revenue generation.
Spokesman of the thinktank group, Olumide Ohunayo, said experts at the meeting acknowledged that interline and code share were business decisions not to be initiated by regulatory fiat but noted the need for the endorsement by the NCAA as a regulatory body through the use of regulatory inducements and other strategic policies without compromising the stipulated yearly audit on domestic airlines to determine their state of health.
The experts, he said, noted the expediency for Nigeria’s aviation supervisory authorities to compliment the safety with economic will, while airlines develop the willingness to embrace technical cooperation arrangements to exploit the huge profitability opportunities in the regional air transport market under such agreements.
The experts, he said, canvassed the emplacement of a guaranteed payment process such as Bill Settlement Plan (BSP) to enhance airlines’ cooperation while airlines embark on human capacity building for their staff members on commercial agreements, negotiation, code-share, revenue management and applicable work ethics.
“For Nigerian airlines to be attractive to foreign carriers for code-share and other partnerships, the webinar recommended that operators be international Operations Safety Audit (IOSA)-compliant, develop attractive route networks, ensure good product quality, develop the requisite commercial acumen and understand the contract terms of their engagement.
“Partnership and cooperation models work among airlines that consider themselves peers and whose operation are complimentary and that no cooperation model fits it all.
“Therefore, domestic airlines should advance cooperation models that work best for the operations such as the model being implemented by Ibom Air.
“Compared to the cost of going through the IATA Clearing House system for settlement of airline obligations.
“We advise that airlines should consider a local clearing system that addresses the challenges of industry credit and place sales in a float account using solutions as the proposed one-ticket solution where funds flow to the holder of the flown coupon.
“Nigerian banks have demonstrated the benefits of shared systems aimed at easing the convenience of their customers. This can be a model for the airline industry to facilitate the ease of the airline passengers in addressing options due to extended delays and cancellations. They are ready, able and willing to leverage financial technology services to facilitate airlines’ interline arrangements to attain the ease of transactions for payment and settlement.”
