As another Nigerian carrier flies to Dubai
About three years after Arik Air suspended its flights to Dubai, another Nigerian indigenous carrier, MedView Airline PLC, recently inaugurated a flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), regarded as one of the most visited tourist and holiday destinations in the Middle East. Daily Trust reports that it takes consistency, Nigerians’ goodwill and government’s strong backing to sustain the route.
After almost two years of rigorous planning, Med-View Airline took a leap further on its international operations with the commencement of the Lagos-Abuja-Dubai flight; the same way Arik started in July 2014 amidst pomp and merrymaking.
With the new international flight operation, the airline has joined the league of other foreign carriers competing on the highly lucrative route. Among the competitors is the Middle East biggest carrier, Emirates. Also calling the shots on the route are Etihad, Qatar while other carriers like Ethiopian Airline, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Royal Air Maroc, among others also fly the route via their home countries.
Undoubtedly the Dubai route is one of the busiest from Nigeria. Unconfirmed statistics indicate that over 2000 travellers including foreigners leave Lagos alone to Dubai on a daily basis which confirms the profitability of the route.
Emirates Airline, the biggest player from the Middle East used to operate 18 flights from Lagos and Abuja to Dubai weekly. But last year, the airline suspended the three weekly flights to Abuja and reduced the frequencies to seven.
But these crises have eased considerably. The Abuja Airport runway has been fixed and airlines’ trapped funds have reduced drastically. Hence, Emirates has reinstated the 12 flights earlier suspended with effect from last week, December 15. These comprise the second daily flight from Lagos and four weekly flights from Abuja.
Med-View Airline started the inaugural flight with three weekly flights via Abuja, the nation’s capital, with over 200 passengers on board the Boeing 767300 ER and other guests including Lagos High Chiefs as well as the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Aisha Al-Hassan. The frequencies are still a far cry to the daily flights operated by Emirates and other foreign airlines.
But to many aviation industry players and Nigerians, Med-View’s inroad to Dubai was a bold and courageous step to put Nigeria on the global map and address the lopsided Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) which the country has been operating. Besides, it would also save Nigeria of the huge capital flight on foreign travels and also demystify the monopoly of Middle East carriers on the route.
Arik Air which used to fly to London, New York- USA and Johannesburg - South Africa, has suspended all its international flights leaving Med-View as the only airline standing on the international turf in a tough operational climate.
Will Med-View last more than one year compared to Arik which did not last up to one year on the Dubai route? This is the concern of many industry observers. While Med-View Airline has the task of matching equipment with equipment and devising a programmed plan of expansion in no distant time through providing safe, reliable and convenient services for business and leisure travellers on the route, it requires the ample support of the government to protect it from competitors.
Analysts say it is high time the Nigerian government through the Ministry of Transport- Aviation got deeply involved in aeropolitics which is much more complex than the strive for power and aimed at protecting Nigerian carriers flying international operations.
While suspending flights to Dubai on May 4, 2015, Arik Air cited “a challenging wider economic environment in Nigeria as well as increasingly stringent travel regulation controls in the UAE” as reasons for its decision.
Many Nigerians were shocked by the decision to suspend the flight and only few people were convinced with the reason given by Arik. To many industry watchers, there was more than meets the eyes. And many also believe it would be virtually impossible for a Nigerian carrier to break the monopoly of Middle East carriers on that route.
Air Peace Chairman/CEO, Mr. Allen Onyema whose airline is also on the verge of going international has complained persistently about how countries give Nigerian airlines stringent conditions that are impossible to meet before allowing them to fly into their countries.
Based on this, he has threatened to sue those countries whose airlines fly seamlessly into Nigeria and refuse to allow Nigerian carriers into their countries.
While many foreign carriers fly into as many as four destinations in Nigeria, Nigerian carriers that dared to fly international routes had been in the past frustrated and suffocated out of the routes all in the name of monopoly. But this, analysts say can only be stopped if the country got serious in aeropolitics and stood firmly in support of its own by always intervening at the diplomatic level to resolve all issues that may arise in the destination countries. This is the only way Med-View Airline can break even besides playing by the rules in Dubai and other international destinations it flies to.
This was the case in 2011 when the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron had to intervene when British Airways had a problem with the Federal Government and the airline’s frequencies to Nigeria were to be reduced in reaction to the treatment meted out to Arik Airline which started flight operations to UK at the time.
Analysts say the trend is against the spirit and letter of BASAs numbering over 70 which Nigeria signed with countries. Regrettably, the BASAs have been largely unfavourable to the nation since there are no airlines to reciprocate since the demise of Nigerian Airways. This is why Aviation Veteran, Capt. Dele Ore says most BASAs signed by Nigeria must be renegotiated as they are inimical to the growth of Nigerian airlines.
Mr. Chris Aligbe, an aviation consultant stressed that government must encourage and support MedView which he noted has put in rigorous and painstaking planning and preparation to start the Dubai route. According to him, many Nigerian carriers like BellView, Virgin Nigeria and Arik Air that launched flights to Dubai did not last on the route because of improper planning.
Speaking with Daily Trust, he said, “MedView has gone through a painstaking preparation. It is not something it started today. For us it is quite heartwarming because some other Nigerian operators have tried it and they failed because of improper planning, they couldn’t continue. Virgin Nigeria tried it and failed because of its own idea because it was not properly directed at profiting Nigeria. It was to profit the Virgin Group. Arik tried it, unfortunately it couldn’t manage the route, again because of modest and improper planning.
Alhaji Muneer Bankole, MD/CEO of Med-View said as a Nigerian airline, carrying the nation’s flag, it needs all the support from all Nigerians to remain and be consistent on the route even as he assured of the airline’s readiness to not only play by the rules as obtained globally, but to provide excellent in - flight entertainment that would give passengers maximum comfort.