Aftermath of Aviation Crashes; Nigerians shun air travel

Aviation crises: Nigerians shun domestic air
travel
OCTOBER 22, 2013 BY UDEME EKWERE
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Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah
The crises in the aviation industry have taken a
toll on activities at the domestic terminals of
the Lagos airport, with airline officials
lamenting low patronage in the past few days.
Some airline officials told our correspondent in
confidence on Monday, that the passengers
seemed to have developed apathy towards air
travel, stressing that they might have become
scared of flying following recent developments
in the industry.
The officials confirmed that some passengers
had called in to cancel earlier bookings, while
most of the aircraft taking off from both the
Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 and the
General Aviation Terminal to various
destinations in the country have had to depart
with fewer passengers on board than usual.
Analysts say the development is a setback to
the operators because flying with fewer
passengers can make the airlines run at a loss.
An official of one of the major carriers told our
correspondent that the airline has had to
reschedule some of its flights in the past two
weeks due to dwindling patronage and in order
not to run at a total loss.
The official, who asked not to be named
because of the sensitive nature of the subject,
said, “Lately, activities have not been going on
as usual; we have noticed a general reduction
in patronage. At first, we chalked it up to the
fact that the summer is over and people may be
travelling less at this period; but further
investigations have shown that some customers
appear a bit sceptical about air travels for the
time being.
“Perhaps, this is as a result of the number of
mishaps that have been recorded in the
Nigerian airspace in the last few weeks. As a
result of this, we have had to adjust our flying
times in a few cases to ensure that we are able
to accommodate more passengers, while
running fewer schedules, this is in an attempt
to assist the management to break even.”
On Thursday, October 3, 2013, an Associated
Airline plane crashed in Lagos shortly after
taking off, killing 15 out of the 20 passengers on
board.
Twenty-four hours after, a Kabo Airlines’ Boeing
747-400 plane carrying 512 pilgrims made an
emergency landing at the Sokoto airport with
deflated tyres and damaged the airport’s
Instrument Landing System.
On October 7, 2013, the Federal Government
suspended the operations of Dana Airlines once
again, citing the need to carry out an
operational audit on the carrier.
On Sunday, October 13, an IRS Airlines’ Fokker
100 plane carrying 99 passengers also made an
emergency landing at the Kaduna airport after
developing hydraulic problems mid air.
A passenger, Mr. Uche Igbokwe, told our
correspondent at the MMA2 terminal on
Monday, that he had come to see if he could
get a refund for a flight he had earlier booked.
He said, “I am a businessman who lives in
Lagos, but I shuttle between Abuja and Lagos
two or three times every month. I actually
booked a ticket for a flight to Abuja towards the
end of last month to fly on Wednesday, but the
air crashes and near crashes witnessed in
recent times have become worrisome to me.
“My family advised me to use the road transport
option for the time being, until things are a bit
settled in the industry, and I seem to agree
with them. So, I have come to see if I can
reclaim at least some of my money. I know the
road option is some distance, but I will have to
manage until things improve in the aviation
sector.”
An aide to a principal officer of the National
Assembly, who pleaded not to be named, said
he had stopped travelling by air to any
destination in the country, but was now
embarking on his journeys by road because of
the “unsafe state of aviation” in the country.
Corroborating this, the Chief Executive Officer,
Gadeshire Travels and Tours, Mr. Olugbenga
Adebayo, said there had been reduced bookings
for local flights by passengers.
He said, “Well, we have noticed that there is
this phobia, which our customers did not use to
exhibit before. It is not really that most of
them do not want to fly again, but they are now
being very choosy about the kind of flight they
want to get on.
“If they do not see big airline carriers, they will
refuse to fly and will rather take the road
option. And you know that currently, we have
limited carriers with big capacities in the
country.
“We believe it may be as a result of all the
issues we have been having in the Nigerian
airspace lately, and this seems to be the little
challenge that we are facing in the local
aviation sector for now, but it is not affecting
international travels