…faults unions’ interference in ticket sales charge issue
By Dickson Omobola
Vice Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, Allen Onyema, Wednesday, warned that many domestic airlines may go out of business within the next 30 days unless Federal Government urgently addresses the challenges confronting the aviation industry.
Onyema, also the Chairman of Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace, cautioned aviation unions against picketing any airline over the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, TSC, saying if the unions do so, other domestic carriers would suspend operations.
He spoke at the launch of the book: ‘Pathways, Pilgrimage & Destiny: The Biography of Alhaji Muneer Bankole,’ unveiled in Lagos in honour of the Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Med-View Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole.
Lauding Bankole for his contributions to the aviation sector, he said: “Going into aviation is not a piece of cake. It is an industry that is not very rewarding. It is capital intensive, yet less rewarding. Today, we are facing a phase that has existential threats except something drastic is done very quickly within the next 30 days, a lot of airlines might go extinct.”
On the unions’ planned action to picket airlines over the unremittance of the TSC, he said: “The Nigerian airline industry doesn’t have any problem with any union, nor do we have business with the unions. This is an aberration; it has never been heard before. If we have problems with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, we discuss. Whenever they call us, we answer them.
“The airlines in Nigeria are operating under very excruciating circumstances. Even the International Air Transport Association, IATA, has said it is very difficult for any airline to survive in this country.
Nevertheless, we are treating this kind of statement from IATA with kid gloves.
“Everybody pities Nigerian airlines, yet nobody wants to do anything about their situation. Take a look at the mortality rate of airlines in Nigeria. Is anybody addressing it? Over 50 airlines have come and gone. The owners of these airlines succeeded in other businesses, yet they failed in airline business. Why not do self-introspection? Why are these airlines failing? If they (unions) want to shut down the industry, we are waiting for them.
“If they picket any airline, others will go because there’s no need for that. There is nowhere in the world that government agencies use unions to talk about issues of debt. These airlines borrow money at 30, 33 percent. All everybody wants is to collect money from airlines. Nobody cares about the lives of these airlines. If they want to shut down the industry, we are waiting for them.
“It is not only the five per cent TSC that is hurting the airlines. There are other charges, and we pay for everything we do. Maybe we should think of a solution to bring this to an end. Airlines do not want to owe. There should be a solution on how to go about making it work for everybody. You might think of a unit cost, and even announce that everybody using the Nigerian airline to fly anywhere, this is a unit cost.
“The airlines are not against helping government generate revenue. But no airline in the world is taxed directly for revenue. The airlines indirectly provide revenue for government. Those who are sponsoring unions to bring airlines down, we wish them well. At a time the whole world is supporting airlines. At a time every country is trying to inject money to their airlines because of the Iran war, Nigeria is trying to do the other things wrong.”
Meanwhile, Mr Bankole, in his remarks, said: “When you look at the title of the biography: Pathways, Pilgrimage & Destiny, it reflects the journey I have gone through in my life. I have been privileged to travel the paths that have shaped my lifetime.
The pathways represent the routes I have taken. The pilgrimage symbolises life’s journey, one in which we often do not know the exact destination. We are born, we live, and every day unfolds according to God’s direction. When you wake up in the morning, it is only God who directs your steps for that day. That is the honest message I want to share with all of you.
When you go to sleep at night, you know nothing about what the next day holds. It is only when day breaks that you begin another stage of your life’s journey. That journey began for me in 1956. Nigeria Airways, for those of you who grew up in this country, was one of the best airlines.
“If anybody has any doubt about it, we have some people that we called first level. They flew aircraft from Lagos all the way to New York. Non-stop. Three times, four times a week. I am proud to have been trained. That was a wonderful period I went through in my life.”
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