Nigerian airline operators have put at about N10 billion, the lost they have incurred in the first three weeks the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja was closed for the rehabilitation of its runway.

These losses, according to the airlines, were a result of low passenger traffic, more fuel consumption and increased remuneration due to crew’s extra flight time.

Some of the operators, passengers and airport officials, who spoke to THISDAY on Wednesday, said passenger traffic has significantly reduced because many people, who would not want to go through Kaduna, have suspended their trips to Abuja pending when the airport will be reopened.

Passengers, who have been travelling through the alternative airport, complained of it is cumbersome and long bus ride from the Kaduna airport to Abuja, which takes at least three hours.

An operator of a major airline told THISDAY that due to the losses that would be incurred, his airline decided to cut down its operations and use part of the six weeks period the Abuja airport would remain closed to send the crew for simulator training.

“Airlines are incurring huge losses now. The N10 billion projected loss in the first three weeks is more like it because the suspension of flights to Abuja cut down the traffic by 40 percent and even the remaining 60 percent is underperforming. Those airlines that were generating about N100 million daily cannot even generate N50 million now and you still have to pay for insurance, consume the same amount of fuel, if not more, carry out the maintenance of the aircraft and pay the crew.

“It is wrong to put pressure on airlines to operate from Kaduna because it is purely a commercial decision by the airlines. As a newspaper company, if your newspaper does not sell in Maidiguri, will you carry two truckloads of your newspapers to that city and what do you expect when you take your goods there? Airlines should have been allowed to take their decision. Some airlines like Ethiopia Airlines decided to play politics. That is a government airline; not every airline has the kind of privilege that they have,” one operator told THISDAY.

The operator also added that airlines would not record profit this year due to the six weeks losses “because profit margin in this business is very marginal.”

Another operator told THISDAY that the lucrative Abuja-Lagos route, which is now Kaduna-Lagos route has reduced in capacity from 80 to 90 percent load factor in the past to average of 50 currently and despite the fact that Lagos to Kaduna is a full one hour flight, the fares on average, remain the same.

“We have cut down our Port Harcourt-Abuja; Uyo-Abuja from daily to three times a week and even with the reduction we don’t even record high load factor. We incur extra cost because Lagos to Kaduna is full so we burn more fuel. Five minutes extra flight time means so much for an airline. We also pay the crew more allowance, so this is a full time loss,” spokesman of one of the domestic carriers told THISDAY.

He remarked: “The routes that are adversely affected include Enugu to Abuja, Owerri to Abuja, Port Harcourt to Abuja and Calabar to Abuja flights. Now that the Abuja airport has been diverted to Kaduna, passenger turnout in these routes are very, very minimal to the extent that some airlines record 30 percent load factor, an airline boss explained, noting that the capacity is low and expressed the hope that the closure is only for six weeks, “soon all this will become a thing of the past.”

But for the Chief Operation Officer of Medview Airline, Lukeman Animasaun, the airline’s operation to Kaduna has been good because the relocation of Abuja traffic to the airport has created an opportunity for the development of the airport.

“So far so good; it is an opportunity for the airport to be developed its infrastructure and it is good that we know that after Abuja there is alternative airport with good facilities,” he said.

 

Source: Thisdaylive.com

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