The implementation of Single Sky for Africa will deepen the air transport market in the continent, Rwanda Air Country Manager, Ms. Ibiyemi Odunsi, has said.
She said the removal of all restrictions on air agreements among African countries will enable African carriers spread their tentacles across the continent.
If the single airspace policy is accelerated, the challenge of intra – African connections, which has been a nightmare to many passengers, would be eliminated, she said in an interview with The Nation.
According her, this informed the various initiatives by players in the sector to promote the Single Sky Policy, which is expected to give opportunity to not very strong African carriers to leverage with the stronger carriers from Eastern and Southern Africa.
She canvassed the pooling of resources among African countries to build aircraft maintenance facilities. Such facilities, she argued, would not only reduce the individual cost of aircraft maintenance, but create a pool of expertise in aircraft maintenance on the continent.
Ms Odunsi said a review of some policies by the government of some African countries would assist the growth and development of African carriers and, ultimately, create more competition on the continent. She described Rwanda Air’s operations in Nigeria in the last four years as phenomenal, because of the gaps the carrier has filled in providing air transport services.
Ms. Odunsi said if more African carriers are encouraged through policy reviews, fares on routes within and outside the continent would reduce significantly, because some passengers have to travel to Europe first before they could access some African countries because of poor flight connectivity. She said Rwanda Air has remained relevant on Nigerian route because the carrier has kept its promise to passengers, who are daily asking for improved services .
She said : ” It has been good operating as an African carrier into Nigeria for the past four years, trying to raise the bar in the provision of transport services. But we have had to grapple with serious perception imbalance when we started operations in Nigeria four years ago because of the history of the country- Rwanda, the genocide war and rebuilding and other issues.
“But we have overcome all that now with the services we are rendering. Just like every country with its history, the narrative has since changed.”
She said healthy competition among African carriers would help to grow carriers on the continent.
In her words: ”The passenger is the reason we are in business, that is why we keep pursuing integrity of flight schedules and deliver on time performamce. We try to leverage on customer satisfaction.”
She spoke of on-going unilateral, bilateral and multi-lateral agreements that Rwanda Air has struck with other airlines to enable it remain relevant in the market.
She said such relationships with other partners, including the agreement with Kenya Airways and another organisation in Brussels has assisted Rwanda Air to carry out seamless operations on the routes it operates within and outside Africa.
She spoke of plans by Rwanda Air to extend flight services between Kigali and China as well as Mumbai in India.
Odunsi said: “We are planning to launch two new routes for the Nigerian market. They are Mumbai and Quanzou in China. We did our marketing research and discovered that Nigeria has need for more carriers into the Far Eastern routes, and as a strong player on our routes, we thought there is great need to satisfy our passengers.
“By September, Rwanda Air is taking delivery of an airbus, with a flat bed in the business class cabin, which will serve these new routes. By December, we will take delivery of another airbus to complement our Nigerian routes.
“As an airline, we need to empathise with our customers by giving them quality aircraft as travel time increases on the routes.”
The country manager said the airline has pursued an ambitious fleet growth programme when it started a few years ago. At the moment, the airline has eight aircraft, and hopes to increase them to 10 before the end of the year.
She said the carrier will offer Nigerian passengers, generous baggage allowance on the new routes, in addition to introducing a bigger aircraft with competitive fares for passengers interested in medical tourism in India.
According to Ms Odunsi, the decision to fly to Mumbai and Quanzuo in China is to close the gaps in service that currently exists on the routes for Nigerian passengers.
Odunsi said: “There is a huge gap in flight services for Nigerians interested in flying into Mumbia and Quanzuo. The number of airlines flying into these routes are not enough. That is why Rwand a Air is tapping into this opportunity to add value for our passengers,” she said.
She spoke of plans by the airline to expand flights into more African destinations, including Khartoun, in Sudan, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire and Cotonou.
She said Rwanda Air will key into te proposed Single Sky for African airlines because the policy when implemented will encourage the carrier to increase capacity and connect more African cities seamlessly .
Ms Odunsi said: ”The Single Sky Policy will benefit Rwanda Air; it will encourage us to pursue sealmess connectivity into more African cities. You know the difficulties, many passengers face trying to connect within the continent. it is not seamless by any imagination.
“For some countries, you have to fly into Europe first before coming into Africa, that is not seamless by any sense.
“We need the support of African governments to see this policy through . African governments need to fast track, or possibly carry out a review of some policies, to make aviation grow on the continent.
”Some people have argued that the Single Sky for Africa will favour some strong carriers from some parts of the continent. I do not think so, the key to sucessful airline business in Africa is for players to pursue partnerships of all sorts.
“All carriers have a role to play, all they need to do is to pursue different layers of partership, whether it is a code share or interline agreements, ultimately, these will drive growth.”
She urged the government to review some policies on airport taxes, which are not only prohibitive, but also multiple.
She said the new forex policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is not too favourable for airlines because of disparity between the official and parallel market rates.
Such disparity, she said sends signals that something is not too right with the operating environment.
She said: “The government needs to consider reduction in airport charges and taxes. Not, just about harmonisation, but reduction, this would enable airlines have good returns on their investment.
“Since 2012, when Rwanda Air commenced operations in Nigeria, the flight frequency has been increasing. We started with four flights weekly; now we are operating six flights and very soon, if we get the approval from the government, we will commence flights between Abuja and Kigali.”
Ms Odunsi also spared a thought for air fares offered passengers, saying a lot of factors are responsible.
She said air fares were high in Nigeria partly because of the exchange rate regime.
She said: “Airlines are not really increasing the fares as most passengers believe. But, fares are fixed based on the exchange rate.
“Another reason air fares are high in Nigeria, is the inability of Nigerian and African carriers to develop routes within the continent.
“This is a game of demand and supply, if we open up African destinations, the air fare will come down due to increase in passenger traffic . Other reasons responsible for air fare increase is the few number of European carriers flying into Nigeria. As some carriers have withdrawn services, the demand and supply mix is likely going to bring about higher fares. But, if the carriers are more, competition will bring down the fares.”
