Now is time to develop secondary air routes, decongest Lagos-Abuja-PH triangle—Ojuri
Leading aviation industry consultant and chief executive officer of Aglo Limited, Tayo Ojuri has called for revival under-served and unserved airports in parts of the country.
He said that out of the 22 airports including international ones built during the military administrations and others, about 13 cannot boost of up to 10 flights in a week.
In an interview on the sidelines of a recent Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast forum in Lagos, Ojuri revealed that the nation’s aviation industry is yet to have saturated airline market because existing airlines concentrate on the three major destinations of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, popularly known as the aviation triangular routes.
He said the market structure which has continued like that for too long has left some potential busy routes unserved.
According to him, “We do not have airline market that is saturated. When people start the airline business, they only focus on the triangle routes. With right pricing, equipment, timing and route analysis, they are able to develop other routes,”
“10 years ago, operators only concentrated on Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, but now airlines fly to more airports. There was the need to develop secondary routes like Benin, Kano-Enugu, Calabar-Kano and others.
He said “Look at the demography of those that are outside the country and those that have gone through Benin, you will understand that it is a route yet to be explored. Before 2015, Benin was the fourth largest passenger traffic airport. We have a lot of people from Edo and Delta State outside Nigeria.
However, Aglo Limited boss traced key challenges in the development of more routes to issues bordering on infrastructure deficit at the airports, high charges and multiple taxation of airlines.
In a recent presentation at the Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast forum in Lagos,
Business Hilights recalls that the lead regulator in the industry, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), had disclosed that a total of 32 airlines made up of scheduled and charter operators had been seeking to obtain their Air Operator Certificate (AOC) since January last year.
But currently only seven airlines are on scheduled passenger service which include Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Overland Airways, Medview Airline, Dana Air, Air Peace and AZMAN.
