Kenneth Ehigiator
23 June 2008
Lagos — The question has often been asked: Are there changes in the Aviation industry since the fatal accidents of 2005 and 2006? The answer, from the point of view of close watchers of the industry, is yes and no.
In other words, it has been a mixed grill, which points to the fact that a lot of work needs to be done to put the sector at par with others across the aviation world. In spite of the shortcomings still prevalent in the industry, the industry has recorded a quantum leap in regulation.
In this respect, the industry has witnessed a new Civil Aviation Act 2006, which has made it possible for the regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to create the leeway for Nigerian airlines to access international finances for aircraft acquisition, by virtue of the ratification and domestication of the Cape Town Convention. To this extent, airlines such as Arik, Virgin Nigeria and Bellview have taken advantage of the window to acquire or seek to acquire new aircraft. So far, Arik has placed an order for various aircraft range to the tune of about $2 billion. Similarly, Virgin Nigeria also has an order for 23 new planes worth millions of dollars, while Bellview is also in the process of re-fleeting to the tune of 58 aircraft amounting to some hundreds of millions of dollars. The Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) recently put total aircraft order by Nigerian airlines at $4.6 billion, attributing the development to Nigeria's implementation of the Cape Town Convention, ratified by the Federal Government by virtue of the 2006 Civil Aviation Act.
Air safety in Nigeria had always been tied to the type of aircraft being used by airline operators, which prompted the Federal Government to place a ban on aircraft more than 22 years of age in 2001, although some of the aircraft still in circulation are thirty years and above. Nigerian air travellers believe that air safety can be better guaranteed by newer planes. That is, however, neither here nor there, especially as the Kenya Airways' plane that crashed in Yaounde, Cameroun, in August last year, was just six months out of the production line.
Besides, it has never been business as usual for airline operators, as the NCAA had, in the last three years, put operators on their toes as far as operating in line with standard operating practices is concerned. In other words, cutting of corners by operators has become a thing of the past. That is how far progress made in the aftermath of the fatal accidents in the last three years has gone.
Suffice it to say that the Aviation industry is still beset with challenges that have made it impossible for it to actualise its potentials. Questions are still being raised about the integrity of infrastructure in the industry. This has, however, not stopped the steady marginal increase in the number of passengers who pass through the nation's 22 airports.
Infrastructure:
Developments at airports across the country are those of inadequate infrastructure for safe airline operations. It's either there are problems with runways or with navigational facilities installed at the airports, especially the international airports with high traffic volume. At the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, for instance, traffic is restricted to just one runway, Runway 18R , because of the endless rehabilitation of the alternate runway 18L which had been on since the last three years. The delay in installation of runway lightings on the runway has prevented it from being put into use, with added pressures being put on the alternate runway.
Fears are being expressed that unless the runway was quickly put into use, the only functional runway might soon begin to crack and throw the airport back to the days aircraft were skidding off runway due to flooding. The consequence of non-completion of the runway which re-surfacing started about three years ago, is the fact that planes now have to stay on the queue for upwards of about 45 minutes to get clearance for take-off. This brings additional cost to airlines by way of fuel, which price has hit the roof in recent times.
Port Harcourt International Airport has also not been put into full operation because of failure of the contractor to complete installation of the airfield and runway lighting. Coming against the backdrop of the inability of the Federal Airports Authority to renew infrastructure at airports, even with support from some state governments, FAAN's financial dire straits will, for some time, militate against the upgrade of airports in Nigeria to international standards.
Even the NCAA is aware of the acute problem of infrastructure at airports in the country, that it insisted on having them certified. According to the regulatory agency, airports that fail the audit would be shut. Government's release of N19.5 billion intervention funds, as an aftermath of the Air Marshal Paul Dike-led Presidential Panel on Aviation, has become a sour point in efforts to renew infrastructure at airports across the country.
Questions have been asked about how the funds were administered by succeeding administrations in the Aviation sector, but satisfactory explanations have yet to be advanced. For instance, the total radar coverage of the nation's airspace (TRACON) by NAMA is yet to be completed by the agency, in spite of this intervention. The project, which as at 2003, required not more than 63 million euros to complete, has even been overtaken by technology, although NAMA has secured the understanding of the providers, Thales of France, to update the technology as changes and variation in technology occur. Consequently, the nation has not been able to fully maximise the benefits of TRACON, which would have made possible easy detection of what happened to the Beechcraft 1900D declared missing on its way to Obudu Ranch, Cross River State, on March 15, 2008.
TRACON was set out to ensure effective monitoring of Nigeria's airspace, to the extent that any unfriendly object that strays into it was detected without any difficulty. The integrity of radio communication between pilots and air traffic controllers had also become a problem in recent times, especially at a point in the Northern air traffic region, popularly known as "Black Spot." This is the point in the airspace where pilots are known to fly blind, as they can hardly get across to ground communication with control tower. Consequently, some pilots have been known to have devised a means to reach ground control by GSM phones; how frequent this is, is yet to be ascertained.
NAMA has, however, claimed to be addressing the problem with the recent procurement of some VHF radio communication equipment. Closely tied to infrastructure is the absence of an aircraft maintenance hangar. Experts have also fingered this as one of the causes of capital flights out of the country. The commercial airline industry in Nigeria is, at the moment, expanding without commensurate maintenance hangar. This compels operators to take their aircraft to such countries as Ethiopia, Morocco and South Africa for maintenance. The cost of conducting a "C" Check on an aircraft is not less than $150,000, and this comes at an interval of 18 months or about 7,500 flying hours. Imagine the cost of this to the economy.
However, there are plans by Arik Air to build an ultra-modern hangar that could serve the maintenance needs of airlines in the country. Until that is ready, airlines would have to continue spending their hard-earned foreign exchange to keep their planes airworthy. The problem of infrastructure has, however, impacted negatively on the number of persons that pass through the nation's airports, local or international. Recent statistics show that passenger traffic is on the upswing and has actually been the motivator of foreign airlines to ask for extra frequencies, even as those not flying into Nigeria at the moment are falling over themselves to come. For instance, the statistics showed that in 2006, a of total 8,208,195 million passengers passed through all of the nation's airport, while in 2007, it rose steadily to 8,409,944 million passengers.
FAAN's target of 10 million passengers for this year might just be achieved, considering the entrance of more foreign airlines into the country as well as increase in capacity for the domestic carriers. There had also been a steady increase in aircraft movement in and out of the country due to the foray of more foreign airlines into the country and increased capacity for domestic airlines. This low level of annual passenger traffic is a true reflection of aviation development in the country, compared such African countries as South Africa and Egypt, where tourism has helped to boost influx of people into the countries. However, these figures may not be sacrosanct because of the under-declaration of passengers and cargoes that had gone at airports across the country, and which the new airport management automation system sets out to check.
Airline operations:
As more Nigerians embrace air travel, the number of passengers in both the domestic and international routes are rising by the day. Data released by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria show that while the total passenger traffic for the country stood at 8,307,515 in 2005, it dropped marginally to 8,208,195 in 2006 and rose to 8,409,944 in 2007. Of the over eight million passengers recorded in 2006, 2,275,538 were on board international flights while 5,932,657 were on domestic flights. Of the number of passengers on international flight, 1.707 million took off from Murtala Mohammed Airport Ikeja, while 2,255,903 were on domestic flights. A total of 239,484 international passengers left Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja as against the 1,771,836 on domestic flights. The others are Kano 187,421; Port Harcourt 103,849; Kaduna 21,475; Yola 8,923 ; Ilorin 5,540 and Calabar 1,756.
In 2007, a total of 2.165 million international passengers took off from Lagos, 263,953 from Abuja; 3,003 from Calabar; 4,107 from Ilorin, 20,047 from Kaduna; 211,741 from Kano; and 103,849 from Port Harcourt.(see table for details).
One problem that has now become a common feature of airline operations in Nigeria with increase in passenger traffic is that of over-booking. It is prevalent with domestic, regional and international flights, and is causing passengers a lot of heartache. What had been adduced for this is absence of a culture of booking flights ahead of time. Nigerian air passengers are used to getting across the counter to buy flight tickets as they travel on the domestic fronts. On the international front, the situation is not radically different, as passengers book their flights barely a few days to their flight. Because some passengers do not turn up for their flights, it leaves airline officials with the problems of how to fill vacant seats resulting from "no show."
That is the root of over-booking, not necessarily that of over-capacity. The advent of e-ticketing and ongoing automation of the airport system in the country would go a long way in addressing this problem, and has left the regulatory agency with the responsibility of ensuring that airlines operating in the country become e-ticketing-compliant as soon as possible. Airlines also need to embark on enlightenment of their customers on how to imbibe the culture of planning their trips weeks or months ahead, as it is done in most parts of the world. Of course, passengers pay much less booking their flights ahead of travel.
Policy:
The failure of the Federal Government's deregulation policy has become an albatross to the Aviation sector, and this has impacted negatively on the bottomline of airlines operating in the country. Although Nigeria remains one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world, airlines in the country spend virtually all their earnings on aviation fuel, which price has, in recent times, risen as high as N120 per litre, depending on which part of the country the product is sourced from.
This is, however, against the less than N70 per litre the product is obtained in some West Coast countries which have no crude oil as natural resource. Airline operators have attributed the frequent increase in the fares for flight tickets to this. Barely a year ago, the fare for every one hour flight was not more than N14,000, but today, it hovers between N18,000 and N20,000, depending on the airline. This development had also been blamed for the incessant delays and flight cancellations that characterise flight operations by airlines, as most airline operators, more often than not, go in search of aviation fuel for their operations, and blame delays arising from same on "operational reasons", which are never explained to passengers.
To get out of this situation, stakeholders have made strident calls on the Federal Government to urgently address the problems associated with the nation's refining capabilities, especially as the rising cost of aviation fuel, otherwise known as JET-A1, is tied to importation of petroleum products into the country. Airline officials have said Independent Oil Marketers build into their price extra cost incurred from import duties and demurrage. Closely connected to this is the reason FAAN is not able to offer airlines and their passengers quality service, and this results from ongoing energy crisis in the country. To keep airports in the country running, the airports authorities spends as much as N150 million monthly on diesel to power its generators.
Aside from the inconveniences power failure cause passengers, its absence has constituted a threat to flight safety. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has had to complain about the destructive effects incessant power outages have caused its navigational equipment.
Consequently, the airports authorities run most of the airports, particularly the busy ones, on generators for twenty-four hours to avert danger, and coming against the background of insufficient finances for maintenance, most of the airports are left to run without power. Imagine airports being run on generators, in a country where the cost of diesel has hit the roof, and where there is so much bureaucracy that is incompatible with aviation. Aviation is too technical and sensitive to be exposed to the vagaries of generators. In fact, pilots have had to use their understanding of the airspace and airport to navigate their way due to problems caused to navigation equipment by power surge and this, experts have described as not good enough for safety.
Inadequate policy by succeeding governments have also not helped the industry to actualise its potentials. Faulty policy has further compounded the problem of capital flight in the Aviation industry. At the moment, no less than 20 foreign airlines operate into the country, with Nigeria having reciprocity (though not equal) to just two of the foreign carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways, both of the United Kingdom. The Federal Government has not only granted some of these foreign airlines multiple frequencies due to the high volume of passenger traffic on some of the routes, but has gone ahead to even grant them multiple entries.
For instance, British Airways does not only have as much as 14 frequencies on the Lagos-London route, but also has the rare privilege of multiple entries into the country - Lagos and Abuja- where it operates daily flights. It was the same scenario for another British carrier, Virgin Atlantic Airways, until the Port Harcourt International Airport was closed to traffic due to rehabilitation of the runway. In the case of Britain, there are even reciprocities, since Virgin Nigeria and Bellview Airlines also fly into British destinations, though the frequencies might not be the same. What then has become of Nigeria's response to flights into the country by such foreign carriers as Lufthansa, KLM, Delta Airlines, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways, amongst others?
It had been a one-sided affair, which had been to the advantage of the foreign carriers. This is in spite of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Nigeria has with the home governments of the foreign airlines, and which major plank is reciprocity, and has only served to compound capital flight out of the country which, conservatively, is put at over $1 billion annually. Past governments in the country and those who signed the BASAs have been so satisfied with the paltry royalty that comes with the country not reciprocating the operations of the airlines of the countries with which Nigeria reached the agreements.
Royalty is only a fraction of the earnings of the airlines from Nigeria. This explains the reason why there had been strident calls on government to designate as many local airlines as possible on regional and international routes, so Nigeria could reciprocate some of the BASAs. U.S. Delta Airlines currently operates direct daily frequencies between Lagos and Atlanta.
Although three Nigerian airlines, Arik, Virgin Nigeria and Bellview, have been designated by the Federal Government to operate direct flight services into U.S. destinations, in efforts to reciprocate Delta Airlines and other American airlines planning scheduled operations into Nigeria, obstacles currently stand in the way of these local carriers, as Nigeria is yet to be category one certified by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Until Nigeria passes the FAA test, these local airlines cannot access U.S. destinations. Experts have said the only way out of this imbalance is for the government to designate more local airlines on international routes and also create the enabling environment for them to do so.
Search and Rescue:
Search and rescue in aviation is as woeful as it is at the national level. The unpreparedness of the industry for effective search and rescue was again exposed on March 15, 2008, following the disappearance of the twin-engine, turbo-prop Beechcraft 1900D. Aside from the fact that most of the airports in the country are not equipped with functional fire tenders, they are inefficient where available. Because there is no effective search and structure on ground in the industry, the question of regular drills for stakeholders does not even arise.
Beyond Aerocontractors which sometimes conducts a drill to prepare its staff for emergencies, especially in an airport area, no other such exercise is conducted by any other airline or even the parastatals. This precarious situation perhaps explains the reason the Federal Government made the issue of search and rescue as the major plank of the assignment of the Presidential Panel set up to probe the circumstances surrounding the missing Beechcraft. Vanguard learnt the panel, which has since submitted its report, had recommended to government to create a central point where all stakeholders, key to search and rescue, including hospitals, fire service, relevant aviation parastatals etc., would be co-ordinated during emergencies.
All the same, the aviation sector is still faced with daunting challenges, but recent developments in regulation shows that the industry is right on track to recovery. It is believed that lack of effective regulation in the past took the industry to the base it sunk, to the extent that planes were now falling off the skies. It is common belief in aviation that once regulation is got right, all other things will fall in place. Against this backdrop, it is hoped that things would soon fall in place in the Aviation industry in Nigeria, especially against the backdrop of the ongoing automation of airports across the country.
The new airport management system, which is a collaboration between FAAN and Maevis/Unisys, is designed to, aside from making travel seamless for passengers and other airport users, up the airport authorities' revenue-generating capacity to the extent that it is empowered to provide facilities for airports in the country and maintain existing ones. Things are definitely looking up, if the present tempo of development is sustained.
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