Allen Onyema is the Chief Executive Officer, Air Peace. In this interview with Kelvin Osa Okunbor he speaks on the daunting challenges confronting local airline operators vis-à-vis the poor operating environment as well as the preferential treatment given to their foreign counterparts with severe implications on local investments amongst other related issues. Excerpts:
What is your comment on the labeling of Nigerian carriers as weak; indebted and unfocused entities?
My immediate reaction is that Nigerian carriers have suffered the challenge of wrong perception from all sections of society. The picture that has been created in the minds of the public about Nigerian carriers does not represent the state of the industry today. All such labels of airlines been described as weak, unsafe and indebted belongs to the past.
As of today, Nigerian carriers trying their best up the game in the services of flying passengers from one point to another as their contribution to the growth of the economy. These airlines though may have their individual challenges, but are indeed changing the travel narrative. In the case of Air Peace, we have had series of challenges from when we started about four years ago, when some people tried to give us different label concerning the ownership of the airline and the teething challenges we grappled with to hit the ground running. Thank God, all that belongs to the past today, people who tried to undermine Air Peace operation then are nowhere to be found today.
So, it is wrong for anybody to conclude that Nigerian carriers are weak and cannot get it right in doing the business, because of the many gaps in the system, both on the domestic scene and international level. All such talk that Nigerian banks are heavily indebted and do not have the capacity to deliver is not true. Those are lies peddled about Nigerian airlines to make them look incapable. It is not good that all Nigerian airlines are weak, what the airlines need is the support of government.
Nigerian carriers have been demonised for far too long, and this is very unfair, it is a great disservice to the industry and a big lie. I can confirm to you that Air Peace has emerged to change that narrative, because the airline is ready and heavily supported from within and outside to succeed.
What is your take on multiple entry points granted foreign carriers into Nigeria?
Why all these carriers subsidised by their governments be allowed to come here and compete with us, it’s not fair, government has to reduce their frequency. Ethiopia is flying into five destinations what stops Nigeria from telling them to fly from just two. If you want to go to Kano Azman and Max Air are there. That is how to grow this industry. If you want to go to Lagos Aero and Arik Air are all there. No country allows its flanks open in the name of open skies, open skies are on paper. Why are we leaving our flanks open in the name of big brother by allowing people like Ethiopia, we don’t even fly to Ethiopia, no airline flies to Ethiopia, yet we are celebrating them.
We need to stop multiple entry point policy that foreign airlines are enjoying in Nigeria. That is the only way government could protect local carriers. No foreign carriers should be allowed to enjoy more than two entry points into the country. If the benefiting foreign carriers want to go beyond two points, they should domestic carriers to assist them distribute passengers. That is the only way we can grow this industry.
What is your comment on the suspension of the proposed national carrier?
I am not calling to be made a national carrier, we are already a flag carrier, he said, Arik, Azman, MaxAir, Med-View are all flag carrier flying our flag on the international route what I am doing is calling on government for support so these airlines to succeed and thrive. President Buhari has challenged Nigerian airlines to use this occasion to fill the gap. Government has challenged the rest of us to live up to expectation. It means for the first time we have seen a government that saw it made a mistake and has retraced its steps something no government has done.
In what ways could government support indigenous carriers to succeed?
We are not asking government to give airlines money, government could support airlines in many ways by creating a conducive operating environment. It is the duty of banks to provide funds for airlines. I will not subscribe to government at any level to give airlines money , I will ever never subscribe to that , I do not think it is good to use tax payers money to fund Air Peace or another airline for that matter . That is the duty of banks that is why they were established. If the banks trust you and your organisation, they should be able to access loans to you to run your airline. Nigerian banks trust Air Peace to do business with us, the banks doing business with Air Peace are enjoying it, they are ever ready to invest more, because they want to be part of what Air Peace is doing.
It is heart warning to inform that Nigerian banks are willing to collaborate with Air Peace, as the emerging star out of Nigeria to succeed. The Nigerian banks and financial institutions all over want to collaborate with this emerging star out of Nigeria to succeed. Why should we citizens and government of Nigeria support this airline to represent this country very well. I am not calling to be made the national carrier. Air Peace will never call on government to be made a national carrier we are already a flag carrier for this country. Med-View is a flag carrier for this country, Arik, Max Air, Azman, they all have destinations to fly. What I am doing in all honesty is calling on government to now support these airlines to succeed.
This is important, now that government has suspended the national carrier project, which seriously affected our business. With the suspension of the national carrier project by Buhari, it has thrown a serious challenge to domestic carriers to rise to the occasion, to show that they have strength, to fill the gap. Government in the first instance did not need to have floated a national carrier, which a moribund idea. The suspension of the national carrier has thrown a serious challenge to indigenous airlines to demonstrate their capacity. It is now left for Nigerian carriers to live up to the expectation of government.
It was a good decision taken by government by urging promoters of the national carrier project to retrace their steps. It means the president does not care about political correctness, but he cares about the future wellbeing of the entire nation called Nigeria, because many countries are jettisoning the national carrier model. This explains why the president called for a halt of the national carrier decided now to call it a halt. So this President indirectly and inadvertently has challenged Nigerian airlines to start getting it right and I think they are all going to do that. All we need is for government to support Nigerian carriers by getting more involved in international aero politics, the moment government starts helping us to engage the sides of international aero politics, Nigerian airlines will get it right.
But I want to point out that Air Peace did not wait for the national carrier to be suspended before getting it right. Our growth as an airline is not sudden growth, it was planned, a conscious strategic effort to get it right by adhering to our business plan, from inception and we have not deviated from it.
Part of the business plan is to establish integrity with the banks and we have done that one hundred per cent. The problem with Nigeria is that people borrow from banks without any intention to pay. But, at Air Peace, we are different, we got some money from banks, Zenith and Fidelity Bank when we were floating this airline, we make sure we pay our loans, we have borrowed money to buy more than ten aircraft, from Fidelity Bank. We honour our obligations to the bank to the letter. We have never been found wanting in any area concerning our loan repayment to the banks.
Other airlines heard the news about what Air Peace is doing with the banks and they are all keying in. This is enough indication that the banks are ready to support Air Peace. We want government to support domestic carriers to make the country proud. Government will never regret the decision taken to suspend the national carrier, by the capacity that domestic carriers including Air Peace will demonstrate. Air Peace is going to plug that gap; even other carriers are not doing badly. When government came up with the idea of a national carrier, a lot of investors from abroad started developing cold feet, but with the decision by government to suspend that project, investor confidence is gradually building up.
The international community is now favourably disposed to do business with Nigerian carriers. After the announcement of the national carrier suspension I got a mail and a phone cal. From one of the countries with veto power in the United Nations that their major bank is now ready to do business with Air Peace. The aircraft manufacturer from the country said they want to release brand new planes to Air Peace and other firm orders for aircraft. We plead with government to support Nigerian carriers. On our own we are trying to step up the game in line with our business plan that by the fourth year of operations, we will start buying brand new planes.
What is the business plan of your airline?
Whatever number of airplanes we have bought was in our business plan. It is imperative to clear the air that buying of new planes by Air Peace is not a means to launder money as some uninformed and mischievous people are saying. We are not diverting the money from the airline into other business. Whatever we are getting in aviation, we are putting back to into the business. We are adhering to the business plan and the airplanes we are buying is being supported by financial institutions, which have seen corporate governance in Air Peace. The banks are seeing the financial discipline in our airline that is the major banks are supporting Air Peace. What we require now is government support to do international aero politics for domestic carriers.
What are the challenges of operating into the West African Coast?
It is now I hear Nigeria is calling them to a meeting to streamline charges. That has not actualized an Airfield has lost over a billion in six months flying the West Coast, when they presented this to me a few days ago I almost cried. What we make here we are expending them I the West Coast region because of their charges and these airlines are receiving support from their governments some of them are not even paying taxes, Air Peace from day one had started paying tax and charges. We have it in our country, they don’t have it in their country and when we get there they double the charges. For Nigerian Airlines to thrive people need to hear our cries. Nigerian airlines are suffering.
What informed the decision to acquire ten brand new aircrafts?
It was a good decision that will boost our international operations. We want to fill those gaps being exploited by international carriers into Nigeria .we want to resent this country proudly. We want Nigerian carriers to be proud of their airlines which flying the nation’s flag. These airplanes will assist to consolidate our operations. We are Air Peace, we will make this country proud, and that is our promise. On the international scene Air Peace is going to fill those gaps that government is worried that they are not being filled. That is why we went for 10 brand new plans at a go. We want to fill those gaps being occupied by international carriers coming into Nigeria. We want to represent this country proudly, Nigeria will be proud.
We want Nigerians to enjoy modern airplanes that could fly long haul operations. We want aircraft that could fly Nigerians straight to their destinations without stops or transit through many airports. We want passengers to fly brand new airplanes at competitive fares and not the exploitative fares charged by foreign carriers.
That is why we bought the airplanes to fly passengers from Lagos to Paris direct, Lagos to Frankfurt, Lagos to Amsterdam, Lagos to Milan, Abuja to Jeddah, Kano to Dubai with these planes. We want to do Enugu to London, Lagos to London, the United States route because of its range and cargo operations. And very soon Lagos to Johannesburg, there is traffic there. We are targeting Lagos to Mumbai. Our plan is to plug the gap and compete with global carriers.
