‘Bad image, poor airline design driving travellers away from Nigerian airports’

By Dickson Omobola

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria, AOPAN, Wednesday, fingered travellers’ reluctance to transit through Nigerian airports to negative perceptions and poor airline design.

This was just as the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, disclosed that there has been an increase in pilferage at the country’s airports in the last few months.

President of AOPAN, Dr Alex Nwuba, and Sansui, represented by Head of Sales at Aero Contractors, Mr Benedict Oluwafemi, spoke at JustAlive Communications Limited Maiden Summit themed: ‘Nigeria’s Transport Infrastructure: Innovation for a Sustainable Future,’ held in Lagos.

Speaking at the event Nwuba argued that Nigeria’s transit challenges should not be blamed on infrastructure, urging the country’s airlines to address their model of operations.

He said: “We blame the transit challenge on infrastructure, but that is not the fact. Infrastructure plays a very minimal role in transiting passengers. Even if we had a shed and the appropriate transit structure from the airline’s point of view, people would come to that shed and go to their destinations.

“But why hasn’t that happened? If you look at our airlines, for instance, you are going to Freetown, they don’t aggregate from various markets domestically and internationally and take you to Freetown. Our airlines will take you to Ghana and transit you to Freetown.

“We have not addressed the issue within our airline design. The other problem is the experience Nigerian passengers get when they fly through somewhere like Turkey. Their experience would make them not want to fly Turkish airlines again when going to Europe. It would shock you to know that even if we had the perfect infrastructure, the average Beninese, our next door neighbour, would not fly through Lagos. That is because of the perception issue. Our neighbours perceive Nigeria as a dangerous place.

“Lagos airport is not considered as a friendly place through which to travel. They all believe that potentially, they will be victims of one criminal activity or the other. That is the perception that exists as the reality out there. So, if you like, build the most fantastic facility, people are not coming.”

Meanwhile, representing Sanusi, Oluwafemi, however, lamented the infrastructure gaps at the airports, saying airlines’ operational costs were also increasing.

He said: “If you come into our airports, you would see that the infrastructure needs a lot of work. What is the processing time a customer needs to pass through? What type of structures should we put in place to ensure that their experiences at the end of their flight are better? In the last few months, maybe a month or two, we have had increases in pilferage at the airports.

“One of the challenges that we have also is increasing costs. The economy of this country is not friendly to businesses. The policies of this country need to improve so that everybody who needs to contribute to the well-being of the nation can actually see something that is worth the effort of putting in their money.”

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