The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) , Captain Mukhtar Usman, has said revenue flow to airlines globally has dropped, owing largely to discontinued state funding , sustained deregulation / liberalisation as well as intense competition and privatisation.
Usman said passenger and cargo traffic at many airports are declining due to dwindling purchasing power of passengers and shippers.
He spoke in Abuja at the Airport Business Summit and Expo, where he delivered a paper titled: “The acts of promoting a sustainable air transport economy”
According to him, the cost of providing standard air transport services has continued to rise with continuous innovations in the facilities and increasing demand for customer satisfaction.
The NCAA boss noted that in Nigeria, for instance, aviation fuel constitutes about 50 per cent of the airlines’ direct operating costs.
He said high cost of funds and the steady devaluation of the local currency in which the airlines’ income is mostly denominated has had huge impact on the business.
Usman said in the last two and half decades many small and average airlines have either collapsed or gone bankrupt.
His words: “One of the few areas in which significant performances has been recorded is the operation of low-cost airlines, which have benefitted from a shift to cheaper travel.
Usman said the big challenge for Nigeria is creating a friendlier and more enabling environment for airlines.
Proffering solutions, the NCAA boss said: “ The national political leadership should ensure that square pegs are put in square holes, giving the regulatory body the necessary autonomy by resisting unnecessary interference in the latter’s statutory operations.”
He added that government’s interference should be limited to ensure an enabling political and economic environment to engender economic viability and sustainability of the aviation industry.
END
Be the first to comment