Airpeace boss, Chief Allen Onyema, may urgently consider rebranding his airline to gain and improve international passenger share. The airline’s international branding efforts predominantly target Nigerian citizens through low budget fare, local menu and citizen appeals to nationalism. These are not sustainable branding tactics that drive success for airlines even in the medium term. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Simply put, Onyema has to decide whether he wants Airpeace to become an international carrier from Nigeria or a local Nigerian airline flying overseas routes. The difference is a matter of image, and image is everything, as any advertising practitioner would tell us.
The objective should be to make Airpeace an excellent international airline operating out of Nigeria. Rebranding the airline with this objective in mind will immediately expose the urgency to rethink its current branding and how this could hinder future expansion of both the company and its customer base..
I admit that these are only preliminary thoughts on the matter, subject to more rigorous interrogation when necessary. However, Onyema must accept the objective reality that Airpeace risks potentially damaging image issues around its ownership and control, the local menu it serves on international flights, and the nationalism branding that the owner trumpets at every turn. He must strategically turn the page if he ever hopes to expand his target passenger and investor market beyond Nigeria and its citizens.
To begin with, Airpeace is currently enjoying the image of a one-man business, albeit a good man who is both a nationalist and philanthropist. This local image sits side by side with an international tar on the image of the owner by United States’ security and tax agencies. In the aviation political battles that he is currently fighting, we have seen how the London Mirror sailed close to libel when Airpeace ferried the estranged British Royals, Harry and Meghan, from Abuja to Lagos. This is what happens when the public image of an owner-manager looms large over the private and professional operations of his business. The airline industry is a trust business; the looming presence of an owner-manager inevitably brands the airline with the image and persona of a key-man owner.
The unprofessional report from the London Mirror is tragic and avoidable for a business that went to extra trouble to court a clean, nationalist image. Onyema strategically selected his key staff from the major ethnic groups but has inexplicably continued to insert himself as key man and spokesperson of the organisation. This arms ethnic supremacists with the weapon to brand the organisation as an “Igbo business,” thereby eroding its real image as a uniquely Nigerian equal opportunity employer.
Clearly, Airpeace cannot be sustained as both an international operation and a one-man business. Running an international airline is not a tea party, with a typical passenger airplane costing upwards of $100million. If Onyema ever hopes to expand his operations to compete favourably, there is no way he will not eventually diversify the company’s shareholding. If he is thinking of this in the medium or long term, there are two urgent tasks he needs to perform right now.
Onyema, as owner-manager, must think of conducting an online due diligence cleanup on Airpeace. A simple online search today shows that the company, registered on 21 December 2011 as Air Peace Limited, is a clearing and forwarding agency owned by one man, Allen Onyema, and his wife, Alice Onyema. Its current status with the business regulatory agency, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), is also unknown! This status must change through an updated status and a diversified local shareholding structure befitting its current status as a national carrier.
Beyond local investors, Onyema should consider playing the aviation game by welcoming foreign investors. He is on safe grounds here, especially because it is commonplace for countries to monitor and restrict foreign majority ownership and voting equity share capital of their national airlines. Most Western countries, for instance, place a limit on foreign ownership of their airlines, including the US (25%), Japan (33%), and the European Union (49%). Going by what happened with the disastrous national carrier deal, it appears Nigeria favours the EU rule; the ill-fated Nigeria Air would have had 49 percent foreign ownership (from Ethiopian Airlines) and a 51 percent majority share from Nigerian private and institutional investors (46%) and the Federal Government (5%). Onyema can achieve international ownership and image for his airline while exercising key-man control in the short and medium term. This is the only way to achieve sustainability in the long term.
Finally, it is good that Airpeace is serving Nigerian menus as part of its branding. This, however, should not be overdone, unless the idea, again, is to advertise that Airpeace caters only to Nigerian citizens. It is not difficult to ask passengers at the point of booking whether they would prefer the Nigerian or intercontinental menu, the same way that Airlines request from passengers whether they prefer vegetarian or normal diet. This creates the opportunity to target passengers of other nationalities who may want to exploit Airpeace’s local arrival and departure advantages embedded in its USP.
FEEDBACK: Davido’s marriage as our business
In saner climes, infidelity in marriage is a symptom of decaying integrity which might lead to the culprit losing public trust and position as witnessed in the Clinton-Lewinsky saga. But in lawless and morally depraved climes like “Our own Dear Native Land’, the reverse is the case.Most families are rotten and yet they are the basic building blocks for the larger society. We live in a hurriedly welded society, for the British interests, and not yet a nation hence our statutes are different strokes for different folks with variegated religious and moral foundations. Nigeria is a comprehensive case study. • Chris Okoh, Enugu
I have gone through the write up. It’s lengthy but very educational.
• Ekene Ugonwa, Abuja
Thank you for sharing. This is well written sir. Please keep it up. How are you and your family?
•Chidi Peter, Lagos
This is without doubt a beautiful piece of writing. Beyond that, I consider it a reference material and source of encouragement for parties in marriage who are under the onslaught of infidelity but desirous of a happy and successful marriage. Keep the good work up sir. Good morning and best regards.
•Engr. Chris Enebe, Enugu
Great interrogation of the subject. Good morning! • Afam, Lagos
Great piece. •Yange, Abuja
Nice piece. The unfortunate thing is that adultery is an offence, only in Northern Nigeria, under the Penal Code, but not elsewhere. Like the East, it’s not known to be an offence recognized by law. The Matrimonial Causes Act is an English Law that applies only to marriages under the Act and no more. Even under the matrimonial causes Act, it’s no more an offence if condoned. My take on the matter is that Chioma is stuck to Davido because of the good life he is offering her. And most Nigerian women are like Chioma. However, we all, Chioma inclusive, knew beforehand that Davido is simply a Casanova. So, we should not cry wolf where none existed. Good morning, Hon. My warm regards.
• Barr Sampson Nduka Ike, Jos
Great piece! I like the reminder of how Christians use “do my Prophet no harm” to defend their erring Pastors.
•Dr. Chinweike Ebe, Enugu
Excellent piece Pastor Ogbuagu. More grace.
• Pastor Chuzzy Udenwa, USA
Great analysis! Let the reader make his/her choice. Simple. Thanks for sharing. •Andy Okeke, Lagos.
Your presentation is very nice, especially your conclusion. What matters very much to my own understanding of a woman’s position is happiness, happiness for herself at home, no matter which way the husband chooses to follow. We know that material wealth is intoxicating, like alcohol that pushes man here and there. Some women don’t mind if they have such a husband and some don’t like it. So, the choice is on individual women, to stay or to quit. Thank you for this write-up.
•Onuora Nwankwo, Enugu.