The Country Manager of British Airways,
Kola Olayinka has disclosed that foreign airlines operating in Nigeria
lost N6.4billion in the N157.6 billion ($800) of their revenues trapped
in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) when the Naira was devalued from
N197 to N280 by the apex regulator.
The BA Country Manager explained that the
total amount of money trapped in CBN before the devaluation was $800
million and for every $1million the airlines lost N80million.
Olayinka made this known on Wednesday
during the Aviation Round Table (ART) Breakfast Meeting in Lagos. He
explained that the fares Nigerians pay for international destinations
have increased because more naira is exchanged for dollars, but
passengers still pay the same fare in dollar denomination.
He said that the economic downturn and
scarcity of the dollar are bringing uncertainties in the Nigerian
economy and have affected every business done in Nigeria and in the
entire economy.
“Dollar scarcity is bringing about
uncertainties to all businesses. $800m was in our banks that needed to
be transferred. We were selling for N197, when it went up to N285. For
every $I million, we lost N80 million,” he said.
Olayinka said the devaluation and the
trapping of airlines funds eroded their finances and led to their
adjustments in order to survive, while some of the airlines were forced
out of the Nigerian market.
“Some of the airlines could not survive.
There were a lot of readjustments. BA readjusted by flying Boeing B777,
Virgin Atlantic moved to Airbus A330, in a bid to readjust the seat
capacity. The fare $1,000 was not changed. The airlines have not
increased the fare, the dollar did. Bring 10 more airlines they will
fill up with passengers, that is our strength and we should be proud of
ourselves as Nigerians.”
But he frowned on the exploitative fares
charged Nigerians saying, while Nigeria has high passenger traffic,
Nigerians still pay more to travel.
“They need to fill up the aircraft at the
right price. We need to compete effectively and friendly. We need to
compete in a way that we are not hurting the consumers. It is not in our
interest to earn excess monies that sits with the CBN and is going
nowhere, what is the point of doing the business? There is multiple
unemployment, some agencies and airlines have rationalised. If we sent
people away, there will be no job and the multiplier effect, if we start
bringing in less people, what will happen to hotels, taxi drivers, and
immigration? Government will also be losing monies. All airline
operators are task collectors for government,” he stressed.
The BA Country Manager said government
collects $20 for every single passenger that passes through the airport
security, $50 for every single passenger that passes through the
airport.
“Then 5 percent of every fare we collect
is a tax and that goes to the government. So everything that affects the
airlines equally affects the government. Nigeria is the giant of Africa
by location, size, attitude and by who we are. Are we the giant of
Africa in our economy and infrastructure? Accra airport is small but
effective and functional. On the immigration desk in Accra, there were
50 trained personnel. Are we really the giant of Africa? Go through
South Africa Cape Town; I checked in at counter 91 in Cape Town. The
question is if we are not living true to our name or our type, what are
we doing to get there? What we can be accused of is not talking to the
policy makers but we can keep telling them till they get tired of us. No
matter how the airport is, BA will fly; we will just walk around it. We
have second option for everything. We have been so trained. Have we
fully tapped opportunities even within Africa?”
He remarked that Nigeria ought to be the
West African operational hub; “We do not need to keep talking about it.
We should by location, strength, size and population. We should be the
hub for Africa.”
* Why Nigerians pay higher airfares
Chinedu Eze/thisdsay
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