The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said that he may not approve the summer schedule of foreign airlines if they refused to patronise Nigerian caterers.
Following the not too good treatment meted out to Nigerian passengers by foreign airlines, Keyamo has directed Air France to return some Nigerian passengers left stranded at Lome, Togo by Friday night, back to the country.
Summer schedule is take-off and landing rights given to airlines to operate to particular airports and according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), summer schedule begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October.
Keyamo made the threat on Friday in Lagos during stakeholders’ meeting themed ‘Transforming the Aviation Industry’, saying that foreign airlines ought to patronise Nigerian businesses to enable those companies thrive, create jobs and contribute to the growth of the aviation industry.
The minister said he finds it sad that local caterers are not benefiting from windfalls of foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.
“I will not approve summer schedule for foreign airlines until they show me agreement showing they have partnered with our local caterers,” he said, insisting that the foreign airlines can choose to stop flying into Nigeria if they feel they cannot patronise local caterers.
Keyamo also announced at the event that North-east will soon have an international airport, as the Maiduguri Airport, now Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, Maiduguri is being upgraded to meet international standards.
He said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is giving intentional support to domestic airlines to encourage them to grow and create more jobs for the teeming young Nigerian population.
He also observed that while many countries in Africa have airlines established by their government, it is only in Nigeria that the private sector run airlines, noting that the government is working to facilitate access to international financiers to help Nigerian carriers have access to credit facilities at single digit interest rates.
Speaking in a similar vein, the Vice President Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and Chairman of Air Peace Limited, Dr. Allen Onyema, said that domestic airlines have never had it so good with any other government as they are witnessing under the Tinubu administration.
He commended the President, the minister and the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Chris Najomo, saying that they have brought positive change to the aviation industry, especially the airlines that might have gone under without their intervention with favourable leadership.
Onyema said that to make the NCAA’s job easy, domestic airlines should engage in self-regulation by taking critical decisions to ensure that their aircraft is airworthy, noting that this will further fortify the safety of Nigerian carriers and the overall safety of the aviation industry.
“WE have NCAA that is seriously overseeing the industry. What the regulatory authority is doing is fantastic. If we self-regulate we will make the job easier for NCAA and I know that observing all aspects of safety is the cheapest way of running an airline. This positive change has been brought to the industry because President Tinubu understands what it means to run a business.”
Meanwhile, the NCAA has disclosed that in one year, it approved five Air Operating Certificates (AOCs) for five applicants, noting that such performance was never achieved in the past.
An AOC is a certificate that allows an operator to perform specific operations of commercial air transport service, which include charter services, cargo freighting or scheduled passenger service.
The Director General of NCAA said that with the approval of AOC by NCAA, it implies that five prospective airlines have been approved to commence commercial flight operations as soon as possible.
Najomo said during the process of approving the AOCs, he ensured the applicants did not cut corners and all safety demands were met and noted that all the prospective airlines went through all procedures and completed them.
Speaking on aging aircraft in Nigeria, he said it is not how new an aircraft is that makes it safe but how well the aircraft is maintained.
“The NCAA is carrying out surveillance on all aircraft operating in Nigeria to ensure these aircraft are maintained. Brand new aircraft still take-off and crash. So, the age of an aircraft doesn’t determine how safe it is,” he explained.
Speaking on scarcity of jobs in the aviation sector, Najomo said the NCAA is doing its best to ensure airlines bring in more aircraft, adding that the presence of more aircraft would mean more jobs for pilots, flight dispatchers, engineers amongst others.
Concerning Air France, Keyamo in his X handle @fkeyamo, hinted, “I have just been alerted of a situation involving mostly Nigerian passengers left stranded at Lome, Togo, by @airfrance.
“I am told that the flight from Paris bound for Abuja could not land due to the bad weather in Abuja this evening.
“The flight then diverted to Lome. However, the confounding situation now is that instead of bringing the passengers back to Abuja after the storm subsided, there are plans to leave them in Lome till tomorrow, even when that same flight will return to Abuja tonight to pick passengers.
“After directing my Director of Air Transport management to call the country Manager of @airfrance, I also personally called @AirFranceNG a few minutes ago and insisted that those passengers must be brought back to Abuja tonight or be treated in line with best international standards if they must sleep in Lome,” the Aviation Minister said.
Chinedu Eze and Kasim Sumaina
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