The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Airlines

  • NCAA reads riot act to airlines over unremitted funds 

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has directed all airlines operating in the country to forward in full unremitted funds accruable to the Authority without further delay.

    Investigations reveal that the funds run into the tune of over N6 billion.

    This directive was handed down at a meeting with the operators on non-remittance of five per cent Ticket, Cargo and Charter Sales Charges (TSA/TCA) held at the Authority’s Headquarters Annex in Lagos.

    The Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman presided over the meeting.

    According to Usman the directive is with regards to the five per cent TSA/TCA collected at source from the air passengers by the airlines on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    These sales charges, he said is to enable all aviation agencies carry out their responsibilities of providing safe, secure and efficient regulatory services for the overall benefits of all aviation stakeholders.

    He said:” It is imperative that all unremitted funds must be forwarded in full to the NCAA immediately. The airlines must desist from using these funds ‘’held in trust’’;

    The ongoing five per cent Ticket/Cargo/Charter/Sales Charges automation of payments which offers real-time transparent transactions must be completed within two (2) months.

    “This will remove endless reconciliation of data and reduce high debt profile of Airlines to NCAA;

    “Reconciliation of all outstanding debts must be completed within sixty (60) days;

    “The five per cent Ticket/ Cargo/ Sales Charges must be On Gross Ticket excluding VAT and Passenger Service Charge (PSC) only;

    “All airlines must provide to the Authority the breakdown of the recently introduced ‘Taxes+Fees’’ component on all passenger tickets which include the amount due to each Government Agency.

    “This include: FAAN -Passenger Service Charge (PSC); Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) – five per cent  VAT; and NCAA  five per cent Ticket Sales Charges (TSC)

    “Any add-on charge, surcharge or any other miscellaneous added on passenger ticket must be approved by the Authority before applying these charges on passenger tickets.”

  • ‘Drop in global airlines revenues affecting growth’

    The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) , Captain Mukhtar Usman, has said revenue flow to airlines globally has dropped, owing largely to discontinued state funding , sustained deregulation / liberalisation as well as intense competition and privatisation.

    Usman said passenger and cargo traffic at many airports are declining due to dwindling purchasing power of passengers and shippers.

    He spoke in Abuja at the Airport Business Summit and Expo, where he delivered a paper titled: “The acts of promoting a sustainable air transport economy”

    According to him, the cost of providing standard air transport services has continued to rise with continuous innovations in the facilities and increasing demand for customer satisfaction.

    The NCAA boss noted that in Nigeria, for instance, aviation fuel constitutes about 50 per cent of the airlines’ direct operating costs.

    He said high cost of funds and the steady devaluation of the local currency in which the airlines’ income is mostly denominated has had huge impact on the business.

    Usman said in the last two and half decades many small and average airlines have either collapsed or gone bankrupt.

    His words: “One of the few areas in which significant performances has been recorded is the operation of low-cost airlines, which have benefitted from a shift to cheaper travel.

    Usman said the big challenge for Nigeria is creating a friendlier and more enabling environment for airlines.

    Proffering solutions, the NCAA boss said: “ The national political leadership should ensure that square pegs are put in square holes, giving the regulatory body the necessary autonomy by resisting unnecessary interference in the latter’s statutory operations.”

    He added that government’s interference should be limited to ensure an enabling political and economic environment to engender economic viability and sustainability of the aviation industry.

  • ‘Good policies will empower airlines’ growth’

    ‘Good policies will empower airlines’ growth’

    THE President of the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI), Captain Dung Pam, has urged the Federal Government to initiate policies to facilitate the emergence of strong indigenous carriers.

    He also canvassed initiatives that would encourage mergers, interline agreements, code shares and acquisitions.

    In an interview, Pam said without such initiatives, local carriers would remain weak.

    The government, he said  should  review bilateral agreements,   which grant multiple designation and entry points to foreign carriers.

    Pam said: “The duty and the challenge for the Federal Ministry of Aviation (FMA) is to reverse the current situation by creating policies and strategies that will facilitate the emergence of strong, organised and viable local airlines.

    “For close to a decade, NASI and other proactive organisations/individuals have advocated for strategic partnerships such as interlining, code-shares, commercial agreements, mergers and acquisitions in the industry as a panacea for the declining fortunes of airlines.

    Mega-carriers in Europe and America are merging to further extract cost synergies and take advantage of economies of scale.

    “Yet, the Federal Ministry of Aviation  is superintending over the collapse of its aviation sector. Our major commercial scheduled operators are on the verge of possible insolvency despite multiple government monetary interventions.

    “The ministry and the regulator should wake up to their responsibilities and facilitate the evolution of existing under performing airlines into  some viable and profitable airlines capable of providing the world class service Nigerians deserve.

    “These few restructured airlines should then be engaged in a transparent process of bidding to become Nigeria’s flag carriers.”

    He said government should ensure that review of bilateral air agreements should adhere to the principles of reciprocity, fairness and mutual benefit.

    Regrettably , government he said, has not done enough to look at the agreements from long term economic and security implications. Pam further said: “So far, the administering of Nigeria’s Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) has been a matter of serious concern considering it is supposedly based on the principle of “reciprocity”; fair exchange for mutual benefit.

    “It has neither been fair, nor particularly beneficial to the generality of Nigerians. The Federal Ministry of Aviation (FMA) has consistently failed to understand the wider implication of this myopia. If they are bereft of the requisite information, wider stakeholder engagement and consultation will have revealed deeper reasoning.

    “Therefore, it is irresponsible and dereliction of duty for the Federal Ministry of Aviation to offer multiple designations and entry points to foreign international carriers without seriously considering the medium and long term economic and security implications.

    “The process is devoid of transparency and reeks of high-handed personal interest as opposed to national interest. It virtually outsources the operation our aviation industry to foreign entities while relegating Nigerian carriers to the position of pawns in this internal chess game. We are the “mark” and the “market” in this intriguing game of monopoly.

    “The reason why Nigerian airlines are unable to commensurately reciprocate our bilateral air service agreement (BASA) is because they are weak, disorganised and fragmented.”

    He also lamented that 15 years after Nigeria signed the Open Skies agreement with the United States it is unable to take advantage of the air pact.

    Pam said: “Fifteen years after signing a provisional open skies agreement with the USA, we are still unable to take full advantage of it.”

     

  • NCAA to airlines: remit over N6b debts from ticket sales

    NCAA to airlines: remit over N6b debts from ticket sales

    Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has expressed concern about airlines’ failure to remit charges collected for Federal Government’s agencies.

    Domestic airlines owed the authority over N6 billion from the five per cent ticket, charter and cargo sales charges collected from the public.

    The charges, according to the NCAA, were paid to airlines to avoid collection before flights, thereby creating confusion and delays.

    In a statement yesterday, NCAA’s spokesman, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, called on the affected airlines to offset the debts, which were stunting the growth of aviation agencies.

    The statement reads:  “The NCAA notices with serious concern the huge debts of airlines as a result of failure to settle promptly invoices as at when due.

    “This poses serious financial challenges to parastatals that benefit from the five per cent ticket, charter and cargo sales charges.

    “Consequently, the NCAA would be pleased to see that the airlines put plans in place to liquidate all outstanding indebtedness. The settlement of those debts will assist the authority fulfill its statutory obligations to the country and the world.

    “The NCAA has tried many times  to get  the money from airlines that sometimes falsify and misrepresent the payment of the charges to the travelling public, accusing them of concealing the real reason behind the charges.”

    Adurogboye added that the five per cent charge was enshrined in the Civil Aviation Act and embedded in passengers’ fares, adding that airlines were supposed to collect it from passengers and pay to the NCAA.

    He explained that in line with the Civil Aviation Act 2006, the NCAA was saddled with the collection of five per cent sales charge on all tickets originating from Nigeria, cargo operations and charter/contract flights.

    After collection, the ticket sales charge is shared among aviation agencies namely: Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) as approved by the Civil Aviation Act 2006.

    He denied insinuations  that airlines were paying five per cent of their earnings to the NCAA as ticket sales charge.

    Adurogboye said: ‘’I wish to correct a serious misconception being sold to the public by some airlines. NCAA has reports that some airlines are purporting that the five per cent TSC is being paid to us from their earnings. This, they say, is adversely affecting their operations.

    “This is absolutely false and a misrepresentation. The TSC is content charged in the ticket sold to passengers. The airlines’ role is to collect and remit to the regulatory authority.”

  • ‘Airlines sold N10.5 billion tickets in seven months’

    ‘Airlines sold N10.5 billion tickets in seven months’

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) yesterday said foreign and domestic airlines operating in the country sold N10.5 billion tickets to passengers between January and July, this year.

    Its director-general, Capt. Usman Muhtar, who spoke at the 21st Annual Seminar of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) in Lagos, said the total volume of passengers airlifted within the period under review by domestic operators was 6,061,740.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the theme of the seminar was: Achieving a Win-Win Aviation Sector in Nigeria.

    Muhtar said: “From January to July this year, the total amount of tickets sold on the domestic routes was N2,352,011,595, while the international operators sold N8,176,919,415, within the same period.

    “The total volume of passengers airlifted from January to July 2015 by domestic operators was 6,061,740 passengers while their foreign counterpart freighted 2,341,748 within similar period.

     “It is instructive to note that this result will have been better but for the transition period and elections which always restrict wide scale travel.”

    Represented by the Director of Operations and Training, Capt. Sidi Abdullahi, Muhtar said Nigeria’s air transport sector witnessed increasing growth in recent years.

    He said: “Several foreign airlines are finding Nigeria an investor’s basket. A total number of 15 countries have so far indicated their preparedness to sign Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with our country.”

    According to him, 13 others are on the threshold waiting for renegotiation of their existing BASAs, he said.

  • Award for Ethiopian Airlines

    Ethiopian Airlines, the largest, fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa has been voted and won the Passenger Choice Awards for “Best Airline in Africa” for the third time in a row at the APEX 2015 EXPO held at Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

    The Airline Passenger Experience Association is a network of the world’s leading airlines, suppliers and related companies committed to elevating the level of the airline passenger experience.

    APEX encompasses the largest and most comprehensive survey of passengers in 13 languages. It is the most important award in the airline industry since it is the customers themselves, who rate airlines based on their overall experience.

    Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines Group, Tewolde Gebre Mariam, said “As an indigenous Pan-African Global Airline, we are honoured to be recognized as “Best in Africa” for the third time in a row which once again reaffirms the high quality of the service and the products we offer. Ethiopian is above all a customer-focused airline with global standard service with superior delivery through its hallmark African flavoured Ethiopian hospitality.

    Passenger Choice Award is the most important award in our industry since it is our customers, who rate us by benchmarking our service with others in the industry.

    “The award will encourage all of us at Ethiopian to double up our efforts in the never ending pursuit of our continuous improvements in customer services both on the ground and in the air. With 91 international and 20 domestic destinations around five continents, operated with one of the youngest fleet in the industry, which is below 5 years average age; we will continue our leadership in the African Aviation industry and connecting mother Africa with its major global trading centres. I wish to thank our customers for their strong vote of confidence and for all Ethiopian employees who are working hard day-in and day-out all over the world to make Ethiopian airlines lead the African Renaissance in the 21st Century with its motto ‘The New Spirit of Africa,’ Mariam said.

  • Aviation workers protest N25b debt owed by airlines

    Aviation workers protest N25b debt owed by airlines

    Over 200 airport workers and aviation union members yesterday staged a protest at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport , Ikeja , Lagos to protest over the N25 billion the airlines are owing the Federal Government.

    Led by the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), the unions threatened to stop rendering services to major airlines if they failed to settle they are owing the Federal Government within the next seven days.

    ATSSSAN and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) blocked ticket counters at the domestic wing of the airport to express their disapproval over the debts owed agencies.

    For over three hours during the protest, activities around the airport environment were  disrupted.

    Addressing the gathering, the ATSSSAN President, Mr Benjamin Okewu, said the protest was a result of the refusal of the airlines to settle their debts to the government.

    He said: “This protest is to send a notice to airline management that aviation workers are tired of the incessant indebtednessto all the aviation parastatals.

    “Airlines have been enjoying services from aviation parastatal without paying for the services rendered to it.

    “We are here to inform the passenger, the airline’s management and every other stakeholders that very soon, aviation workers will be ceasing all the services rendered to such airlines  they decide not to pay their  debt.

    “We cannot continue like this as the change we clamour for and the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari must reflect in the aviation industry.”

  • Airlines owe Immigration $1.170m at Lagos airport

    Airlines operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, are owing the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Airport Command.

    The command said 3,102 Nigerians were deported between January and last month for immigration offences.

    The Comptroller of Immigration, MMIA Command, Mrs. Chizoba Dibi, who addressed reporters in Lagos at the weekend, regretted  the debts, saying efforts to recover them had proved abortive.

    Thirty commercial airlines operate in and out of MMIA daily. This is besides the numerous private aircraft that operate at the terminal.

    She recalled that the former Minister of Interior, Mr. Aba Moro, in two letters dated February 19  and April 26 conveyed approval of the command to withdraw passenger clearance from the highest debtor, to act as a deterrent to other airlines.

    Mrs. Dibi said she hoped that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would give the same approval to the command to recover its debts.

    As at the end of last month, she said the command processed 665,450 arriving passengers and 755,817  departed through MMIA within the period.

    Mrs. Dibi added that the command refused 353 Nigerians from departing the country. One hundred and forty seven foreigners were disallowed from entering the country.

    The comptroller said 3,102 regular deportee-Nigerians were received within the year and that the command also received 508 special deportees, while five foreigners were deported.

  • Audit of airlines

    Audit of airlines

    • NCAA should handle this task as routine

    How often does the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) audit airlines in the country? This is the question that some Nigerians have been asking since the crash on August 12, of a Bristow helicopter in Lagos. Six persons aboard the Sikosky 76 helicopter marked 5N-BGD, which plunged into the lagoon died, while six injured ones were rescued by divers.

    Immediately after, NCAA’s director-general, Capt. Muhtar Usman, ordered i commencement of the safety audit of all the airlines. Usman said this was in line with the authority’s regulatory and oversight responsibilities, adding that the authority’s Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) would continue to intensify the routine ramp inspections. Indeed, virtually all the NCAA boss said could be taken that the authority has not been doing enough to ensure safety on our airspace. For instance, if the authority had been carrying out its assignment as routine, Usman did not need to warn pilots to take precautionary measures during adverse weather conditions by ensuring strict compliance with states’ weather minimal and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

    Moreover, Captain Usman should not have reminded us that the authority would continue to ensure intolerance for non-compliance to regulations  or that airline business in the country would be done according to the standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) so as to ensure safety and security.

    Indeed, it was for all these reasons that some aviation experts carpeted the authority for making an issue of something that should be routine. A former managing director of IRS Airlines, Yemi Dada, said the NCAA’s announcement of the audit after the helicopter crash was self-indicting; and that it was a way of admitting that it had not been doing its job well. He added that the announcement was capable of causing panic among air travellers. “I believe that the announcement is not necessary. It could lead to panic. However, we cannot blame the agency for doing its work. If you have been doing your work effectively and efficiently, there would not be any reason to make the announcement,” he said.

    However, by alluding to regular audits, we are not just concerned with the technical aspect but also the economic dimension of airline operations. They go together. It is obvious that all is not well with the country’s aviation sector. Many of the airlines in the country are financially insolvent. Nearly all of them are owing major aviation agencies, including the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over N13billion in Ticket Sales Charges. This situation births desperation, which compels the operators to unethical practices. They are bound to cut  corners to keep the airlines afloat.

    There is also the problem of corruption that is paralysing every sector of the economy. For instance, a few years ago, the airlines received huge sums as bailout funds from the Federal Government to enable them improve their operations. No one is sure what many of them did with the funds, which apparently implies that they saw the money as free funds.

    There are enough justifications for the NCAA to beam its searchlight on the economic audit of the airlines to be sure that only the financially healthy ones are allowed to operate. We will only be inviting trouble for the air passengers if we allow flying coffins in our airspace.

    We urge the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash, with a view to giving an insight into its cause. The government also must be ready to provide the NCAA and other agencies in the aviation sector the required assistance to recruit adequate manpower and procure the tools needed to facilitate their operations.

    “There are enough justifications for the NCAA to beam its searchlight on economic audit of the airlines to be sure that only the financially healthy ones are allowed to operate. We will only be inviting trouble for the air passengers if we allow flying coffins in our airspace.  We urge the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash, with a view to giving an insight into its cause.”

  • ‘Why airlines can’t use new navigation system’

    ‘Why airlines can’t use new navigation system’

    Airlines are set to key into a new navigational system, the Performance Based Navigation (PBN), developed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO), the Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Ibrahim Abdulsalam, has said.

    But, indigenous carriers will have to await clearance from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to adopt this new technology that will make flight operations seamless.

    The new technology, he said, will help to reduce flight hours by pilots of indigenous carriers when approved by the NCAA.

    PBN, the airspace agency boss  said, sets the level of accuracy, integrity and continuity that the aircraft’s navigation systems must meet for required functionality.

    All components required for effective implementation of the new technology  have been completed by the agency.

    He said NCAA is yet to approve it for the airlines. He did not state the reason for.

    Abdulsalam said: “I understand that Arik is about using the equipment, but I am not too sure about the other airlines. But Arik aircraft are equipped to use it.”

    But, investigations reveal that some aircraft in the fleet of some indigenous carriers are not fitted with the required technology to migrate into the new navigation system.

    He said when operational, the new air navigation would benefit the industry.

    He said: “You know we have very efficient routing now that you can take direct flight routing from Lagos to wherever you are flying into  or wherever you are flying  from to Lagos.Those are some of the benefits of PBN, those are some of the benefits of direct routing. It is part of the things we are enjoying at the moment and we hope to even enjoy more subsequently as we move along.’’

    The NAMA boss said the equipment has been installed in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, stressing that the agency’s officials are already conversant with the facilities.

    “So, maintaining it will not be difficult for us.They trained on it and they have been maintaining the other three stations; so, maintaining this one will not be a problem,” he said.

    Abdulsalam further said the milestone was accomplished last month with the conduct of the Site AcceptanceTest of the new Kano Safe Tower project, as well as the Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) training.

    The Safe Tower Project was conceived in 2006 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to automate air traffic services at Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt control towers.

    The project was completed in Abuja and Lagos in 2007, while that of Port Harcourt was completed in 2008. However, the completion of this project was delayed in Kano as a new control tower had to be constructed.

    According to him, following the completion of the construction of the new Kano Control Tower in November, last year, NAMA mobilised AVSATEL to site for the deployment of the safe tower automated air travel management and meteorological systems last January.

    He explained that shortly after AVSATEL mobilised to site, the Kano Safe Tower project suffered yet another delay as some of the equipment which have been in the warehouse since 2007, had become obsolete and had to be replaced at additional cost.

    Despite all the challenges, Abdulsalam said the deployment of the system was completed with the required conduct of a site acceptance test.