…As FG seals BASA with Bahamas, Seychelles
By Louis Ibah
Airlines operating in Nigeria raked in a whopping N719 billion from tickets sold to passengers in 21 months spanning the whole of 2015 and between January and September 2016, says the Director General/CEO of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman.
According to data released by the NCAA boss, the industry had witnessed a drop in passenger patronage in 2016 on both international and domestic flights when compared to 2015.
Usman who was briefing aviation correspondents on the activities in the industry in 2016 linked the shrinking of airlines activities and passenger patronage to a number of factors, including the ongoing economic recession in the country, the scarcity of foreign exchange, the inability of foreign airlines to repatriate incomes out of the country, and aviation fuel scarcity.
Usman said although data were still being collated and authenticated for the last quarter (October – December 2016), available statistics indicated that while an average of 700 flights flew out of the country daily throughout 2015 and carrying an estimated 42,000 passengers, the 2016 figures showed that about 597 daily flights operated in the country with the same 42,000 passengers.
He said in 2015, about 233,847 flights operated in the country carrying an estimated 11.4 million passengers, while between January and September 2016, about 163,844 flights operated with 11.3 million passengers airlifted to various destinations within and outside the country.
He said airlines sold tickets estimated at N385,909,897,028.80 in 2015, while in 2016 (January – September), tickets valued at about N330,548,324,796.84 were sold by the operators.
The NCAA boss, however, listed the zero accident in the industry in 2016 as the greatest gain while pointing out that Nigeria recently sealed two Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) with Bahamas and Seychelles. He said the BASA with the two countries bring to 90 the number of bilateral air deals entered into by Nigeria, while lamenting the inability of Nigerian carriers to effectively reciprocate the deals.
Muhtar said 18 firms had also applied for Air Operators Certificate (AOC) to operate in Nigeria.