At the end of its quarterly conference held on Thursday November 9, 2017 at Golfview Hotel & Suites, GRA Ikeja, Lagos, Aviation Round Table (ART) has offered suggestions on what could be done to address the issue of infrastructural deficiency in the aviation industry in Nigeria.
In a communiqué issued on the state of infrastructure, development and challenges in the industry ART stated among other things that there is the need for Corporate governance, setting up of inter- government agency stakeholders’ group, installation of surveillance cameras in all airports in the country, adoption of satellite and digital technologies even as the group insisted that domestic airlines should merge to form formidable carriers just as it called for the address of deficiency in human capital requirement in the industry.
The Communiqué is as follow:
There should be a culture of corporate governance and transparency in the business of managing the aviation sector, such that government and other parties in infrastructure-related commercial agreements in the industry should respect the terms of such agreements if the industry is to move forward. Therefore, existing concession/agreements that have developed into controversies affecting the entire industry should be resolved immediately in the interest of the industry taking cognizance of initial capital invested. Also, political interference should be avoided in the sector’s regulatory activities.
There is a need for the establishment of an Inter-governmental Agency Stakeholder Group led by the regulator for the administration and management of BASA funds and for implementing our aviation development plans.
Additionally there should be an aviation projects implementation stakeholder teams in every airport.
Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs), Multilateral Air Service Agreements (MASAs) and International Routes are the nation’s infrastructure and assets, while air traffic rights are like oil blocks and therefore, should not be treated with levity in administration or by unilateral exploitation. Therefore, BASA funds should be used for critical-safety infrastructure development as provided for in the Civil Aviation Act 2006.
There is a need to have surveillance cameras in and around every airport in Nigeria to be complimented with the establishment of Aviation Industry Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team (CERT) to enhance Aviation Security. Additionally, we need to enhance the airport perimeter fences where there are no security fences to sufficiently comply with Annex 17.
With the increasing importance of Information Technology for massive levels of efficiency, effectiveness and profitability in air transport, an integrated aviation communication infrastructure should be established.
With increase in traffic and number of aircraft in the Nigerian airspace over the years, the existing CNS/ATM Systems need to be optimized while improvements should be made to match capacity at the airports with the adoption of satellite and digital technologies.
There is a need to ensure the provision of regular public power supply at the airports and all enroute stations nationwide which will naturally facilitate the continuous provision of safety – critical services.
There is a need for local airlines to pull resources together and establish a local maintenance hangar as a way of minimizing their aircraft maintenance cost.
For Nigerian airlines to attract funding facilities from financiers and institutions that are predominantly based outside the country, our airlines must be within these parameters; viability, capacity and the potential to earn more revenue from commercial agreements in view of the weakness of the local currency.
Therefore, we urgently call for regulatory consolidation process that increases the minimum fleet for AOC issuance for scheduled passenger airline operations from two (2) aircraft to twenty (20) aircraft.
The observed huge human capital deficiency in the industry needs to be rapidly addressed by establishing Human Capital Development Plans, Succession Planning and mentoring programme across the industry and organisations, with huge investments. We should deepen trainings in commercial, marketing and financial analysis which are the bedrock of profitability in the industry.
