From the rise and fall of domestic carriers to the suspended Nigeria Air; completed and uncompleted airport terminals; threats to shut down some terminals; bickering over debts and recurring impasse between unions and aeronautical agencies, 2018 was a mixed bag, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports.
TWO thousand and eighteen has come and gone, but developments that shaped the sector will linger in the minds of industry players; operators; regulators and observers.
Like previous years, aviation had its fair share of troubles; challenges; crises and controversies as they affected airlines, terminal operators, concessionaires and other players in the strategic sector.
According to experts, 2018 was a mixed bag; as aviation navigated issues of policy; the operating environment; infrastructure outlay; training and human capital development; regulatory standards and other activities that altered the stakes.
National Carrier brouhaha
Part of the events of the outgone year that will go down memory lane was the controversy that trailed plans to float a national carrier by the government. As lofty as the initiative sounded, stakeholders in the sector, including think-tank safety group: Aviation Round Table (ART), kicked against the project because it was shrouded in secrecy.
ART President, Gbenga Olowo, said although the body had nothing against the national carrier project; but many questions were yet unanswered.
Besides the ART, the umbrella body of indigenous carriers: Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), also kicked against the national carrier project, saying it was outmoded and not in sync with what other countries are practicing.
In particular, domestic carriers said the proposed national carrier was a ploy by government to push them out of business.
In the year under review, industry experts also faulted the road show in Farnborough, London, where the Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika led a large delegation of government officials, who allegedly spent huge sums on the project. Many experts and industry watchers noted that with the way Sirika went about the project, it was programmed to fail.
Reason: it was opaque.
Besides the huge sum of money spent on designing the logo for the failed project, experts said there were more questions than answers on the equity structure of the national carrier, as there were doubts about the identity of investors and partners concerning Nigeria Air’s incorporation.
A few weeks after the government suspended the Nigeria Air project, a belated stakeholders forum was convoked by Sirika in Abuja to clear the air on the project, which created more embarrassment for the government than the anticipated benefits of the airline.
In particular, Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) General Secretary, Comrade Abdulrasaq Siedu, described the stakeholder’s forum as a jamboree.
Payment to ex- Airways workers
In the year under review, one of the few strides achieved by the government was the payment of second tranche of severance benefits to former workers and pensioners of Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL).
The goverment’s approval of second batch of the N45 billion payment to ex-Airways workers and pensioners laid to rest many years of protests and demonstrations by over 6,000 ex-workers of the airline liquidated in 2003 by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administrations.
Considered as one of the major achievements in the sector in 2018, scores of workers of the liquidated carrier said the payment finally laid to rest the ghost of the former carrier.
However, the payment in three zonal centres – Lagos, Enugu and Kano was not without records of deaths, when the ex- workers and pensioners waited in the scorching sun for verification by a unit of the Ministry of Finance-Presidential Initiative for Continuous Audit (PICA).
What made the exercise striking as a major event that shaped the year was the involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Department of State Services (DSS) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in the exercise.
Speaking in an interview, Chairman, Aviation Union Grand Alliance (AUGA), Comrade Lookman Animasuan, described the payment as one of the goverment’s milestones in the sector in 2018.
He said PICA assured that their colleagues, who died during the verification exercise would be paid. This development, according to a former Airways worker, was the defining moment of the sector in 2018.
Opening of new International Terminals
Although deficient infrastructure has continued to dog government efforts to uplift the sector, conscious efforts were made to complete and inuagurate some international airport terminals built with the $ 500 million loan secured from the Chinese Import Export Bank.
The terminals in Port Harcourt and Abuja were inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in October and December respectively.
According to experts, the terminals, besides accommodating thousands of passengers, will change airport infrastructure narrative in Nigeria.
Controversies over poor state of Enugu Airport Runway
In the year under review, safety and security, which are the barest irreducible minimum according to global aviation standards, were called to question as Southeast governors called for the shutting down of Enugu International Airport.
Reason: the runway, according to them, was not safe for flight operations. They described it as an accident waiting to happen.
To them, unless the government fixes the poor runway, operations in the aerodrome will continue to make air travel a nightmare.
The alarm by the governors, however, triggered a raft of denials by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which quickly organised an audit to give the airport a clean bill of health.
Regrettably, the government is yet to overhaul airport and other air navigation facilities at the airport.
Besides Enugu Airport, air traffic controllers also fingered the poor state of runway facilities at the Lagos Airport.
They called on the relevant agencies to urgently fix the facilities to save airlines’ needs.
Labour crises at MMA2
Expectedly, 2018 witnessed upheavals from the labour movement as aviation unions: National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) shut down the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA 2) for two days over infractions on the terms of disengagement of some of its workers.
Manager of MMA2: Bi- Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), described the development as the greatest disservice to private sector involvement in airport infrastructure investment.
The year under review was not without the bickering between FAAN and BASL over who owes the disputed amount as part of the implementation of the controversial concession agreement.
Domestic carriers’ challenges/ strides
As part of the sector’s challenges in 2018 was the suspension of First Nation Airways’ flights operations in the domestic category.
TIt formed part of the frustrating illustrations of the myriad of challenges indigenous carriers grappled with.
Down with one aircraft, the managers of the carrier decided to halt operations before it came under the hammer of the industry regulator: NCAA, whose regulations forbid airlines to carry out scheduled flights with one aircraft.
For Medview Airlines, it was a mixed bag, as some achievements were spiced with fair share of challenges.
Besides taking delivery of Boeing 777, there was a temporarily shut down of its international operations into London and Dubai.
The carrier also sacked some workers as part of its plans to restructure its operations. Though it resumed flights on some routes a few weeks ago, 2018 was not very smooth for Medview Airlines.
Also in the period under review, another carrier, Dana Air also recorded some strides as it signed interline agreement with Asky Airline, the Togolese carrier, for aircraft and crew pooling.
Regrettably, the narrative turned sour as the umbrella body of indigenous carriers: AON kicked against the deal, describing it as a window to allow Asky Airlines to perfect predatory practices.
Also, an existing operator – Max Air, delved into scheduled domestic operations, launching flights in the Lagos /Abuja /Kaduna /Kano and lately Port Harcourt routes. This has since altered the stakes in the airline’s operations.
Two carriers: Arik Air and Aero Contractors, under receivership by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria ( AMCON)in 2018 attempted to up their games by improving flight services.
But, they are yet to regain their leading positions, compared to their scale of flights about five years ago.
Overland Airways, also in the year under review, recorded strides as it flagged off its foray into the West African Coast with flights into Benin, Togo and Niger Republic as part of its contribution to resolve challenges associated with flight connections among African capital cities.
But Overland Airline’s successes in 2018 were punctured by the fire incident that gutted one of its aircraft at its hangar at the domestic wing of the Lagos Airport.
Air Peace narrative
It was also a mixed bag for Air Peace, a leading indigenous carrier in 2018, as it made history as the only airline to order 10 brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft valued at billions of Naira.
The airline also took delivery of its Embrear Regional Jets to serve smaller airports on the list of either under-served to unserved routes that dotted the airspace.
Air Peace Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Allen Onyema, said the airline was more positioned to lift Nigeria’s economy, create jobs and transform air travel.
Sirika’s failed promises
Above all, in the year under review, the Minister of State for Aviation, according to experts, failed to deliver his promises on three fronts: to deliver a national carrier, concede some international airports and set up an aircraft maintenance centre.