Stakeholders have tasked airline operators in the country to embrace interlining and codeshare agreement in a bid to enhance operations, save costs and increase profit.
They gave the advice at a virtual meeting of Quarter One of Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI),where they suggested paradigm shift from point-to-point operations.
Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in his comment said that it was high time the Nigerian airlines started to put their resources together as the region welcomes Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) for the continent.
He insisted that only cooperation and partnerships in different forms would enable airline operators to harness the huge potential of air transportation in the region.
He, however, said that the government could not compel the operators to interline or codeshare, but insisted the government was ready to provide the enabling environment for business to thrive.
He explained further that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had provided a clearing house for operators, challenging the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), the umbrella body of indigenous airlines in the country to encourage its members to interline.
He added: “We have a huge market, I don’t see why Nigerian airlines cannot dominate the West and Central African region, we have over 600 million passengers and they could do 60 million. With partnerships, these are possible.”
Besides, Dr. Harold Demuren, the former Director-General, NCAA, said that it was necessary for the domestic sector to have a domestic settlement system, but harped on credibility and transparency.
Demuren said that with this, the country’s operators would dominate the sector, while the aviation industry in the region would improve tremendously.
He said: “Cooperation is very imperative, the airlines can even graduate to joint training and others; let’s take advantage of technology, let’s turn the West African market into a domestic operation, instead of trying to go to London and compete with airlines that have it all.
“We appeal to the NCAA and the Ministry of Aviation to dismantle the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) arrangements and allow the airlines to move. When the airlines have a track record and when foreign airlines are looking for partnership, they will have the confidence that you are ready.”
Earlier, Dr. Gabriel Olowo, the President, ART, pointed out that the poor on-time performance of Nigerian airlines were due to inadequate fleet and depleting fleet, thereby affecting turnaround performance of the airlines.
Olowo expressed that if the nation’s airlines pooled their resources together through interlining and codeshare, flight delays and cancellations would be minimised.
