Re: re FG keeps Emirates, Turkish out of Kano despite Minister's pledge

The SA to the Hon Minister of Aviation was forced to clear the air for the umpteenth time on this lopsided bilateral agreement that clearly favours the government of UAE and Turkey. Quoting him "once again we are constrained to comment on the above subject matter and make further clarifications since some interest seem bent on making political capital out of an already settled question", while I am not surprised at the political angle being taken by the ministry to survive the concurrent blackmail and pressure by a coordinated group which is detrimental to the growth of our airlines and obviously at variance with the projected GDP contribution of aviation as espoused by the Honourable Minister in her road map for the industry. My surprise is the unbelievable silence of the operators, AON, unions and other interest groups that prefer to wait for bailout, free aircraft s and the new contraption Air Transformation aka national carrier. Emirates and Etihad airlines are from one country, they were granted approval to operate into Lagos, Kano and Abuja respectively without reciprocity, somewhere along the line an enhanced BASA was signed to give Emirates a second daily flight to Lagos. The two carriers operate about 42 flights a week in and out of Lagos alone, while also increasing gauge and in the nearest future will operate into Abuja and Kano. This is simply unfavourable and detrimental to the industry and the country as a whole. If they must operate into Abuja and Kano they must relinquish some frequencies into Lagos. Nigeria Airways built this route using public funds that has not and can never be recouped, we need to separate politics from aviation,reciprocity,commercial partnership and protection is the common denominator in any bilateral. Etihad has bought shares in airlines in Seychelles, Ireland, Germany e.t.c and partnering with carriers in countries like South-Africa, Kenya India e.t.c, but in Nigeria they all want to operate to different cities unhindered. The United States the proponents of the open skies have pressured weaker countries to join the train despite their weakness to compete but have cautiously refused to sign the same agreement with China because the American aviation unions resisted based on perceived job losses. Emirates demand for extra frequencies into Canada and Germany was halted due to the pressure from Air Canada and Lufthansa respectively. It’s the same Lufthansa that operates into Lagos, combines Abuja and PH flight into the country and were recently granted fifth freedom into Accra, yet refused to pay royalties under the ridiculous tag of helping our aviation industry. Delta Airlines has taken a government owned bank EX-IM bank, of USA to court for financial incentives given to Emirates and other foreign carriers. These incentives are meant to encourage the purchase of Boeing aircrafts. These actions are geared towards protection and development of home grown carriers not using archaic options of bailout or formation of national carrier. Least I forget can our policy makers go through the recently signed enhanced BASA between Singapore and India or between France, Mali and Burkina-faso, the rudiments of reciprocity and commercial partnership were clearly stated. It’s what we sow that we will reap, cheap blackmail and executive capitulation without recourse to the rudiments stated above is two steps forward and eight steps backward. The GDP projections are meant for the foreign airlines operations based on our policies and we should not forget that these funds will be repatriated to their respective countries and not kept in Nigeria. We must tweak our policies urgently to attract investors and franchise partners.

AERO: THE NEEDLESS STRIKE

In an article,i wrote about a year ago titled "Aero Unending Counter Chaos",i asked the management to dig deep in finding solutions to the recurring counter problems and to spin off a low cost carrier, that will facilitate cost reduction initiatives,nurture its budding online clients and improve its online facilities in other to improve services,expenses and counter clogging. Surprisingly, up till this moment management,staff and unions have not been able to weave amicable solutions to the present crisis which emanated from a mandatory cost cutting strategies needed to stabilise the airline. One or two of them are either ignorant of the crippling liabilities of the airline or sarcastically unperturbed.it's no secret that the bailout fund could not help and an organisation saddled with the responsibility of sucking toxic debt has stepped in to help the airline creditors. The strike has punctured the life raft of the airline and has quickened the provision of a life support machine.Aero staff should have learnt from there colleagues in Air Nigeria who went on a similar strike and ended up being consumed. The dialogue option would have been stretched,while the unions complement it with coordinated blackmail and clinical subterfuge,which is a better option for a troubled organisation. The strike option chosen by Aero staff was hasty and counterproductive; it is a grave error and a concurrent misstep by airline staff in nigeria,which has contributed to the demise of airlines in the country while also increasing the unemployment market. If Aero will ever return to the skies, it will be as a leaner organisation with some stringent cost cutting measures that would have been difficult to embark upon before the strike.i appeal to the management to reconsider the sack letters while the workers should brace for the hard truth,which is sequestration. The only commendation for the management and staff is their ability to sustain the unblemish safety record of the airline over the years till the present day. Sadly, both parties forgot the passengers by abandoning them at the airports without any explanation and continued to sell tickets online,yet the management remembered the importance of getting a court injunction to stop the strike while the staff were equally mobilising and strategising for the strike without considering the customer that pay the wages. This reckless and insensitive posture of both parties has led to a group of passengers seeking damages worth millions of naira in court. Its a shot in the arm,we must realise that "we no go gree" is industrial dispute. While"sorry we will not be operating and will endevour to put you on other flights or make a refund" is a divine message of care.