Last week, members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC, were at Air Peace Headquarters in Lagos for a media chat with the Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Allen Onyema. In the discussion, Onyema spoke on topical issues, including the cost of airfares, flight disruptions and route expansion plans. Excerpts:

Appreciation to Nigerians

We (Air Peace) have attracted respect to this country. Many Nigerians have shown that they love Air Peace. 95 per cent of Nigerians love Air Peace. Air Peace owes a duty to this country. I always believe in what one can do for one?s nation, not what the nation can do. Our proudest moment was when we deployed all our aircraft to the service of this nation free of charge during COVID. At the time, most countries without airlines suffered. But Air Peace stepped out proudly. Most nations in West Africa wished they were Nigerians.

We did about four flights to China, bringing over many Nigerians free of charge. We went to Turkey and brought medical supplies for over 220 million Nigerians free of charge. We deserve to be applauded by our nation, by everybody, including government agencies. We deserve it. Anything other than that should be questioned because the airline has paid its dues. We demand to be applauded. We demand to be appreciated by our country.

Nothing will ever stop us from loving our nation. Nothing will stop us from doing those things that will promote the well-being of every Nigerian. Nowhere in the world has government done everything for its citizenry. And that is why, on most occasions, we want to instill that sense of belonging in every Nigerian. We want to make Nigerians proud. Do not equate indigenous businesses with the ownership of those businesses.

Do not say because an individual, who belongs to a certain tribe, is making a lot of money, let us bring down the business. Nigerians should begin to do things that will promote the well-being of indigenous investments. Government alone cannot provide all the jobs. Every nation is run by the private sector, with government providing the enabling environment. Government provides the ease of doing business. In aviation, I must commend the Minister, Mr Festus Keyamo. Like it or hate it, as Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, we know what we are enjoying now.

The beginning of good governance starts from the kind of people put in the saddle to run any ministry, and we have seen that in the appointment of Keyamo. Do you know that Nigeria is about to start receiving its first dry lease opportunities? It will happen in the next three weeks. Nigeria was unofficially blacklisted over 10 years ago. We were talking about issues of capacity. What did past governments do about this capacity? Now, we have a government that has stepped out.

On flight disruptions

No airline under the sun cancels or delays flights for the fun of it. No airline gains from delaying or cancelling flights. From every disruption, the airline loses instantly. Every day, Air Peace this or Air Peace that. A lot of videos out there are fake. A lot of videos out there are deliberately done to hurt us. Recently, they started recycling old videos against this airline, making them look new. What do such people gain?

Even the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, principles of those things that cause delays, I would say about 95 or 94 of them are not caused by the airlines. Most delays result from safety concerns such as weather, infrastructure problems, bird strike, inadequate landing equipment, sunset airports, congestion at the airport and unruly passenger behaviour. All of these things contribute to delays and cancellations. Deliberate, unruly behaviour is a pain to the development of the airline industry in this country.

Route expansion

Regionally, we are doing Douala, Dakar, Banjul, Abidjan, Monrovia, Accra and Freetown. And I am sure before the end of the year, we might add Congo. We might add Congo and Libreville in Gabon before the end of the year, but we are waiting for the permits of those countries to come in. On the international scene, our daily flights to London are going so beautifully. I want to tell you that come October, we will start our Abuja to London flights. I want to announce to you that the British authorities have granted Air Peace Heathrow.

That is a testament to their belief in what Air Peace is doing. I want to thank Keyamo and our dear President for all they are doing to showcase Nigeria. If our safety records were dented, this may not have happened. Air Peace has represented this country very well internationally and proudly too. Therefore, they rewarded us with Heathrow. Come September, we will do direct flights to the Caribbean nations, and we will start with Antigua. We are going to connect our brothers in the Caribbean islands to their homeland in Africa.

Aircraft acquisition

We have increased the fleet of our Boeing 777. Another one, which is being painted somewhere in Europe, will come into the country in July. This means that we have four 777s in our fleet. We are working to restart our China operations.

Now that the Federal Government has made it possible for us to acquire aircraft through dry lease, we are discussing wide-body aircraft. When they start coming, Nigerian airlines will compete favourably with international airlines, and we will start conserving foreign earnings for our country.

Airfares

Aviation fuel still remains the issue for any airline in the world. A litre of fuel is sold for about 1,050 or 1,100 Naira. 777 burns about between 3,500 and 4,000 litres per hour from Lagos to Abuja. If you multiply it, you are talking about N5 million. Also, once you take off, there is a cost to the engine per landing. Every cycle, there is a cost to the engine. There is a cost of insurance.

There is a cost on everything, including the airframe, the fuselage and the landing gear. If that aircraft is wet-leased, you will pay about $6,000 per hour. So, apart from the fuel that is already about N5 million, $6,000 per hour, how much does that give you? $6,000 is almost N10 million. Then you add it to N5 million, that is N15 million.

Then you add some other costs. By the time you finish, you might be getting to about 18 to 20 million Naira. How many people are you carrying on that plane? Sometimes you are carrying half a million. Even if you carry N20 million in an aircraft, you have already spent about N18 million. Nigeria remains the cheapest worldwide when it comes to aviation. As far back as the year 2000, Nigeria was charging N2,000 for a one-hour flight. At the time, the exchange rate was N100. What does that tell you? That was about $200 per hour. It is not as though anything has changed; it is the exchange rate deceiving us.

We are still flying people with N120,000. There is still N120,000 in inventory. It is just that agents buy them or people buy them up, then you start seeing more expensive ones. On average, let us say everything is about N150,000 per passenger. If N150,000 is divided by N1,620 to a dollar, that is less than $100. How much is a flight from Atlanta to South Carolina? Depending on the day, sometimes it?s $540. Meanwhile, over there, they borrow money at three per cent; we borrow at 35 per cent.

Appeal to FG

One thing I want government to do for us is to create a transit hub for Nigerian airlines in our airports. You can imagine that we operate to about 10 African countries, yet we cannot bring somebody from Douala, who is going to Dakar to transit from here.

The person will pass quarantine, immigration and customs. We are asking government to make the airport transit-friendly. For now, we want them to create this, even if it is for Air Peace, which is into international operations. (Saturday Vanguard)

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