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SAATM, a project of the African Union, was aimed at creating
a single market for air transport in Africa just as it connects the continent,
promotes its social, economic and political integration and boosts intra-Africa
trade and tourism.
Given that Nigeria is the second largest market in Africa
behind South Africa, industry experts wondered why domestic carriers were not
supported to maximise such a multilateral agreement in order to increase the
country’s finances.
In separate chats, they lamented that only one Nigerian
airline operates to Nairobi once a week, saying the West Africa country was
lagging behind its East Africa counterpart.
Monopoly
Speaking to Vanguard, General Secretary of the Aviation
Roundtable and Safety Initiative, ART, Mr Olumide Ohunayo, decried the
imbalance, stressing that there were indigenous carriers that could operate to
the route if supported.
Ohunayo said: “Kenya Airways is an African airline and the
rule of SAATM makes increasing frequencies available even beyond the Bilateral
Air Service Agreements, BASA. At the moment, Kenya Airways has a monopoly on
the Lagos-Nairobi route.
”In most cases, most of the passengers are not even going to
Nairobi, they are going to points beyond Nairobi such as London, Dubai and
other cities. Can you imagine that our own airline goes there once a week? That
is Air Peace.”
Penchant for travel
“They will increase frequency because Nigerians have the
penchant for travel. When more people demand for flights, frequency will be
increased, particularly during summer. It will go down again around September
or October and increase during the Christmas period.
“Nigerian airlines don’t operate there. We need to begin to
look at how we can build more airlines beyond Air Peace. From the look of
things, Air Peace doesn’t have the capacity to take all we have to offer on our
BASA.”
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Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of
Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.
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