Incessant bird strikes have remained a challenge to airline operators. The problem, which is not limited to the nation’s aviation industry, has led to spiralling costs in terms of fixing damaged engines, loss of revenue, and other maintenance expenses, reports KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR
Domestic airline operators, acting under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have raised the alarm over incessant attacks of migratory birds on aircraft engines, warning that, along with other factors, the attacks may kill the industry if not addressed.
Listing various challenges facing the sector, the group lamented that it is facing an uphill task running their fleet.
Aside attacks on aircraft engines by birds during flights, it said other threats to the industry are: unfavourable government policies, multiple taxation, flunctuating price of aviation fuel, high cost of aircraft offshore maintenance and high cost of insurance.
In an interview, its Executive Chairman, Captain Nogie Meggison, said indigenous airlines lose over 30 aircraft engines yearly to attacks by migratory birds.
He said the birds were making operators lose between $120 million and $210 million yearly.
He lamented that it costs a minimum of $4 million to change a small aircraft engine damaged by birds during flight.
Middle range aircraft and large size aircraft engines, Meggison said, cost between $60 million and $70 million to replace if damaged through bird strike.
Meggison said domestic operators have been grappling with this challenge for years without compensation from any government authorities or insurance firms.
He wondered how an airline could make profit in the face of these challenges, noting that operators should be lauded for putting their investments in air transport given its attendant risks.
He said the losses caused by the birds could be reduced if aviation agencies stepped up control measures at the airports.
This, Meggison said, is important because bird strikes could contribute to air disasters if not checked.
Bird strikes, he said, could damage the aircraft engine blades, leading to possible malfunction, which is a threat to airline operations.
He attributed 70 per cent of air disasters in the country to negligence by government agencies handling airlines.
Meggison said Nigeria could achieve safer skies if the agencies and other service providers carried out their duties without interference by the Ministry of Aviation.
He said the agency investigating air accidents needed to sit up to fix identified causes of air disasters to ensure that useful lessons are learnt to avoid any recurrence.
Meggison said: “We need to start looking at landing aids and landing areas at airports because over 70 per cent of air crashes in Nigeria are linked to negligence on the part of aviation parastatals and oversight deficiencies of regulatory agencies and other factors.
“For instance, the ADC crash of a few years ago, was due to air traffic control issue; Wings Aviation crash of a few years ago was also due to wrong charting by NAMA while Associated plane that crashed a few years ago was on ground for 24 months before it was taken to the skies.
“We need to look at the issues and not sweep issues under the carpet in Nigeria. We also have issues ranging from bad drainage runway surface to failure of air traffic controller to properly monitor runways, among others.
”About 50 per cent of all plane crashes are caused by pilot error. That may seem like a very high statistic, but it makes perfect sense when you think about everything that a pilot must do.
“Pilots must navigate through dangerous weather, respond to mechanical issues and execute a safe takeoff and landing.
“Some plane accidents are caused when pilots misread equipment, misjudge weather conditions or fail to recognise mechanical errors until it’s too late.”
Sometimes too, plane crashes happen when pilots become incapacitated during critical points of a flight, he added.
In 1976, the only South African airways flight crashed when the captain suffered a heart attack.
“Some pilot errors can even be the result of mental problems. “Take, for instance, the German wings crash in 2014. Automation has saved a lot of pilots but the pilots are not trained to save automation in today’s world.
“Negligence or failure of air traffic controllers to properly monitor the airways is also one of the causes of accidents,” he said.
According to him, this has to do with issues arising during various stages of a flight including approach and departure procedures.
He said faulty equipment and/or mechanical failures are also common causes of accidents, adding that the manufacturer of an aircraft is responsible for an accident if the structural design of the aircraft is flawed, resulting in plane crashes.
He said: “About 12 per cent of all plane crashes are caused by weather conditions. Although flights are often grounded when weather conditions are deemed hazardous, storms, heavy winds and even fog can sneak up on pilots and air traffic controllers.
“But all of these could be reduced if there are proper navigation aids and landing equipment, radar and weather detectors are installed in our airports.’’
Meggison said though Africa recorded zero fatality last year, steps should be taken to ensure her airspace is safer if the civil aviation authority is granted autonomy to regulate aviation.
He said: “The Civil Aviation Authority must have the autonomy to regulate the industry.
“It must have enough trained and capable technical hands to carry out the oversight of the airlines, crew and service providers.
“It must be able to carry out over sight functions on all without fear or favour, to any airline, company or citizen regardless of the their political, partisan, zonal , religious or affiliations to the government.”
IRS Airlines Managing Director, Yemi Dada, lamented that airlines were not making profit because of inadequate infrastructure and insurgency challenge.
“The risk in insuring is high, credit is not well-structured in Nigeria, aircraft leasor will ask you to pay three months’ rentals, the risk of losing the aircraft is at the heart of it all. Until the fundamentals of the economy is solved, we can’t break even easily,”he added.
