Air Peace Inaugural London Flight and Challenges Ahead

Many Nigerians were elated last week when Air Peace successfully operated its inaugural flight to London. Although UK is Nigeria’s second home, Nigerian carriers have not successfully operated the route on long term basis, writes Chinedu Eze

The excitement is still thick in the air about Air Peace’s successful inaugural flight with full capacity of about 260 passengers. Nigerians are excited for many reasons, but majorly because the route is dominated by two British carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways, which charge outrageous and exploitative fares on the Nigerian route.

With a Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, travellers on the route will now have a fair deal in terms of prices. With the entrant of the Nigerian airline, the two British carriers have already lowered their fares to brace up for competition. The second reason is that the Nigerian flag should be regularly seen in major UK airports. So, it is a thing of pride for Nigerians to see an aircraft registered in Nigeria and with Nigerian crew operating to London.

RIP-OFF FARES

Over the years, Nigerians have become miffed with the rip-off fares charged travellers on the route. To make this clearer, what foreign airlines charge on the Lagos-London flight is more than double what they charge on Accra-London route. Many industry observers posit that it is due to demand and supply principles; that Nigerians like to travel and they always fill the aircraft cabin from the front to the end.

The high fares are not limited to Lagos-London route but to all the destinations in Europe: Paris, Amsterdam and others, which are average of six hours from Nigeria. The high fares also extend to all other routes in different parts of the world from Nigeria. In a recent interview, the Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Dr. Allen Onyema said six hours flight from Lagos to London costs more than nine hours flight from Johannesburg to London. So, the major benefit of having a Nigerian carrier operate to London is that it will tame the fares.

Air Peace has made history with its flight to London; but has also awakened anxiety in the minds of industry insiders. Will the airline operate briefly and stop like its predecessors or will it go the long haul? In the past, Nigerian airlines operating the route had been stopped in their strides by circumstances they could not overcome. Insiders attributed this to the shortcomings of the airlines and aeropolitics.

From industry responses to investigation by THISDAY, it is obvious that the airlines, which have literally been making a kill on the route would not want a competitor because a competitor would curb their earnings from the route, recognised as the most profitable route per passenger among the European carriers. So, they would use all the tactics at their behest to stop any Nigerian airline operating the route in order to enjoy their monopoly of the destination.

AVIATION AUTHORITIES

THISDAY learnt that aviation authorities at the UK airports are frequently used to frustrate Nigerian carriers, from their being niggardly with slots, which most often they would say is not available or they would sell it at high prices through third party or they would issue staccato schedule to an airline to create uncertainty in the passengers who would be confused about their favourite airline’s flight schedule. That was one of the things

Air Peace contested against. The authorities usually deny the airlines the airport of choice as they did to Medview and Air Peace, which they gave Gatwick instead of Heathrow.

There are other antagonistic tactics like using security to delay flights by wasting time screening passengers luggage, penalizing airline for late flights and scrutinising the profiles of operating aircraft, the crew and checking technical details, which they use to delay the flights. The undue strictness would eventually get to the airline and either it would spend so much paying penalties for late departures or any other alleged infractions, or it is paying too much for slot or the passengers become frustrated because of induced delays or any other factor.

With time the airline would realise that it is not making profit of the route and decide to back out. That was what happened to Arik Air London- Abuja flight. They couldn’t sustain the route because of the losses due to cost of slot and indifference of the Nigerian government. But it is good to note that Arik Air successfully operated Lagos-London route for over nine years until it was stopped by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) that took over the airline in receivership. Stopping the airline from the London route was one of the not well thought-out, knee-jack decisions of the government agency.

The Managing Director of Flight and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, commended Onyema for being able to pull through despite all the challenges and threw light on what could be expected on the Lagos-London route.

“I congratulate Dr. Allen Onyema and the Air Peace team because they have shut the mouth of negative commentators and pessimists. This is a case of result terminates insult. They kept working towards their desired result until they achieved it in spite of the obstacles. They have made the statement that, ‘we can’, to existing and intending Nigerian operators. ‘BA and Virgin’ will use whatever they have to make sure Air Peace does not take over their share of the market in the route. This is expected. What arsenal they deploy is left for the regulators in both countries to ensure all parties act within acceptable norms.

“It must be mentioned that countries have their template for the strategies they deploy in this kind of fight. Which agencies and groups they use are properly briefed and they know the steps to take when the war to capture, to retain, and to protect the market starts. They don’t mention the tools like airport authority, handling companies, aeronautical services providers; each knows what role to play while remaining professional in their approach. My adviceto Air Peace and the Nigerian aviation agencies is to avoid making public comments about the strategies and tools deployed to execute the ‘war’. Just act according to your script in response to what is happening in the field.

“The airports in UAE and UK knew what to do to frustrate Air Peace, they didn’t make it look like their national agenda, they did not wait for their Ministers to announce it as policy.