Since the devaluation of the Naira, domestic airlines have not really had it good with their operations.
This is because most of their
transactions are dollar denominated leading to a situation where they
are having to pay almost double for their transactions.
Aminu Agoha, president, National
Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), said during the week at
the association’s 39th Annual General Meeting, in Lagos that the recent
devaluation of the Naira against major currencies had led to a slight
drop in the number of people travelling within and outside the country.
He explained further that the devaluation
of the currency, if not quickly addressed, would weigh down on the
airlines as most of their activities are done in dollar.
He added that the moment the value of dollar goes higher against the Naira, cost of air travels skyrocket in the country.
“Well, if you ask me, the dollar is the
determining factor of any business in Nigeria, particularly the aviation
industry where everything is dollar denominated. The fuel is dollar
denominated, the maintenance of the aircraft is dollar denominated, the
service charges and others.
“The moment the dollar starts going
stronger against the Naira, definitely, the cost of air travels would go
high and this is something that we as travel agencies cannot control.
It is forces of the market; demand and supply. So, we cannot control
that unless if the government do something to bring the exchange rate
down.
“Airfare is high now and it will continue
to go high until maybe there is an intervention from the government to
bring down the rate of the dollar, but that notwithstanding, Nigerians
are people that love travelling. Still, a good number of Nigerians
irrespective of the dollar and airfare still travel. If you go to the
airport, you see people still travelling not minding the cost of
tickets.”
On the planned re-establishment of
national carrier for Nigeria, Agoha insisted that a national carrier was
desirable for Nigeria, adding that major developed aviation countries
have national carriers that protect their interests wherever the fly to.
He described as sad the liquidation of
the former national carrier due to government policies, but noted that
the proposed national carrier should not be controlled by the
government.
“Having said that, the national carrier
when put in place, should not be owned 100 percent by the government.
There should be private-public-partnership in the national carrier. Let
it be run like a business and not like government organisations where
government can control the chief executive directors, CEOs.
“If you run it as a business concern, put
qualified people there and not because of my closeness to the Minister
of Aviation; if they do so, I can assure you that within a short time,
our national carrier would return to its former glory.
“This is because I remember in those days
that I used to fly Nigeria Airways as a student, I’ll fly to London in
the summer with the student fares; but now a days, you cannot have that
because no airline would give you a student fare now, but if we have our
own national carrier, we can have student fares.”
Meanwhile, stakeholders at the event
charged travel agencies in the country to embrace consolidation in order
to improve their bargaining powers.
One of the discussants, Kola Olayinka,
British Airways regional commercial manager, West Africa, insisted that
for the sub-sector to grow, players needed to study and understand the
norms in other parts of the world.
Sade Williams
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