Connecting a flight between Nigeria and South American countries is a nightmare for many passengers travelling to these places. To ease their headache, Arik Air is securing traffic rights and airport slot into São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro airports from the Brazillian authorities. KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR examines the benefits of direct air link between Nigeria and Brazil.
Since 1994, when Brazilian carrier – Varig Air – stopped flying into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, passengers have been suffering on that route.
Many passengers going to Brazil have had to explore the option of either flying to European countries, such as United Kingdom and France or Middle East countries, like the United Arab Emirates, before linking flights into Brazilian cities, such as São Paulo, Brasilia, Rio De Janeiro and Recife.
The attendant difficulty in connecting direct flights for Nigerian passengers into Brazil has forced many to pay twice the original air fares and lose time that sometimes run into almost two days of moving from either Europe or Asia and Middle East to get to Brazil.
Worried by the trend, the Federal Government, a few years ago, gave the green light to Arik Air to fly on the Lagos-São Paulo route. This excited many passengers on the route, especially as it was an answer to their prayers and would accelerate economic development between the two countries.
Many passengers, who described it as one of the best things to happen to trade relations between Brazil, which is the sixth largest economy in the world and Nigeria, the most populous black country in the world.
Speaking on the benefits of the restoration of direct flights, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil, Mr Vincent Okoedin, said: ”We have been waiting for this opportunity to come for a long time. Brazil and Nigeria were linked by air until 1994, when Varig stopped flying to Lagos from Sao Paula. Since that time, there have been a closure of the airspace between the two countries and this has severely affected the movement of the people and goods between the two countries and we know how important air connection is to link these two economies and markets. The lack of air connections between the two markets has severely affected commerce, trade and investments between the two countries.
“Many Brazilian companies have been avoiding Nigeria sorely because of this problem. This is because it takes them a minimum of two days to get to Nigeria from here and vice versa. This has been a big issue in trade connection between the two countries.”
On how the Nigerian mission in Brasilia will assist Arik Air to secure traffic rights and slots into Brazilian airports, the ambassador said: ”I see the issue from two angles. The first is that we must engage the government of Brazil to ensure that Arik Air is given all the slots it needs to proceed, and also landing rights that it needs in São Paulo, where it is difficult to create landing rights at this time.
Speaking on the areas of cooperation between the two countries, he said: ”As I said earlier Brazil is the sixth biggest economy in the world. Brazil has areas where it offers advantages to Nigeria. One is agriculture. Brazil exports a lot of agricultural produce from meat to poultry, to soya, to coffee. Brazil offers advantages in energy. It has the energy capacity of 121,000 mega watts. Then, Brazil is a manufacturer of many industrial products including vehicles, trucks, and cars for instance, and many household goods. All these are goods that can feature in trade with Nigeria.”
Also, the Deputy Managing director of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, said the airline was happy the way the link between the two countries were very eager for us to restored. He said: ”We have seen the eagerness in both the civil aviation authority, the ministry, the banks and even the manufacturers have shown their eagerness in this project that Arik Air has taken up. So, I believe it was a very good journey for us.”
On how to secure traffic rights for the airline, Sanusi said: ”In my experience of getting Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) and slots into a country, this is the first time I am talking to the civil aviation department and the regulatory agency and they are showing willingness to help the airline get slots. They are eager to say we know that in the BASA agreement you have four frequencies, but we do understand that there are physical restrictions into Sao PauloAirport, but we are willing to work with you to make sure you get the best slots to start operations.”
