If there is no Arik…and Aero, or Nigerian airlines, what will happen?
1. Night bus get more patronage
2. less business travel, more video conferencing but expensive broadband
3 . Less business travel, Abuja hotels in trouble
4. Jobs lost
5. Productivity eroded
6. Nigera loses Category 1 status ie right to fly direct to USA
7. Bank will take a haircut on loans extended to Arik
2. less business travel, more video conferencing but expensive broadband
3 . Less business travel, Abuja hotels in trouble
4. Jobs lost
5. Productivity eroded
6. Nigera loses Category 1 status ie right to fly direct to USA
7. Bank will take a haircut on loans extended to Arik
I can go on….in essence airlines are enablers..without them can our economy really function?We have failed in the last year to understand the value of air-travel, aeropolis and airline hubs and their contribution to our non oil service economy.
We are about to commission Fournew international airport terminals. ..we have abundant crude oil and hospitality assets…it would seem natural that Lagos and Abuja would become West Africa airline hub at the minimum.
Planes fly into Nigeria…offload passengers. .who shop, eat and rest in Nigeria. .planes buy fuel in Nigeria, their crew rest in Nigerian hotels, their payments made in Forex currency supporting the Naira.
Can we not see the linkages?
Yet, planes now fly into Nigeria pick up Nigerian passengers to Ghana where they buy fuel..aviaton fuel! !!….and we have crude oil? Yet we have Ministers in charge of Transport….paid to create jobs and grow this sector via government policy…..doing nothing. …(but supervising state elections).
We must get strategic….Seems better to
A. create a new company called Nigeria Air….
B. give all existing airlines the option to sell their planes and assets to Nigeria Air
C. sell new equity in Nigeria Air to the public and PFAs….recapitalize Nigera Air. .
D. Government appoints it a flag carrier, 100% privately owned, government supported business.
Airlines are about economics of scale..neither Aero nor Arik has scale and their internal competition is simply cannibalism. Arik may “eat” Aero Airlines but Emirates Airlines eats Arik..we need a bigger airline with scale to tackle Emirates and KLM etc
Once we have 4 new airport international terminals…give it exclusively for use to Nigeria Air..give the airline subsidized aviation fuel. ..give the new airline 10 years tax holiday….give them 1% CBN bond discounting window. …they are creating local jobs and commerce. Airbus and Boeing are also subsidized.
Make it an open franchise…i can buy a new plane, lease it to Nigeria Air…who operates it….if the economics are right. An airline serving the second largest economy with lucrative route in Africa (Lagos to London, Enugu to Guangdong Abuja to Dubai ) is a good buy if properly managed.
Dont let a crisis go to waste FGN.
Its our problem, we can fix it
(photo credit anna.aero)
