Ahead of the 2023 airlift of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia starting on May 21, Nigerian airlines are asking for more slots, faulting the existing bilateral agreement.
The airlines argued that the current arrangement with many countries, including Nigeria, where a Saudi based airline will be allotted 50 per cent of pilgrims does not encourage local airlines to grow.
But some experts said while the claim of having capacity by Nigerian airlines is questionable as evident in the failure of some of them to deliver without glitches in previous years, they, nonetheless, said the local carriers were not wrong to ask for a fair deal.
Daily Trust reports that a Saudi airline, FlyNas, is expected to convey 40 per cent of the pilgrims while six Nigerian carriers participating in the airlift are expected to convey 60 per cent.
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This is in line with the existing quota system from Saudi Arabia, which gives Saudi Designated Carriers (not Flynas alone) the right to airlift 50% of Hajj Traffic under government quota from any country coming for hajj.
The development has continued to generate mixed feelings in the aviation industry with stakeholders querying the agreement and calling for a level playing field for all participating carriers even though the agreement predates the present and immediate past NAHCON leadership.
Apart from FlyNas, the six Nigerian carriers selected for the airlift include Air Peace, Azman Air, Max Air, Aero Contractors, Arik Air and ValueJet.
Genesis
In line with the Saudi Royal Decree, the Nigerian government through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) ought to have ceded 50 per cent of pilgrims’ airlift to a Saudi carrier going by the phased implementation which started in 2015.
It would be recalled that in February 2015, a bilateral meeting involving Nigeria’s Ministry of Aviation, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), NAHCON, Airlines, Saudi General Authority on Civil Aviation (GACA) and Saudi Ministry of Hajj was reached in Jeddah.
A Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) was signed, which among other things, provided for a gradual compliance of Nigeria with the Saudi decree.
It was agreed at the time that Nigeria would yield 25% of its pilgrims under government quota in 2015, 35% in 2016, 45% in 2017 and ultimately 50% from 2018.
But Nigeria has continued to drag this in order to give the country’s airlines opportunities to benefit from the airlift, it was learnt.
While the 50 per cent quota should have been implemented as far back as 2019, it was reliably gathered that the present leadership of NAHCON was able to review the agreement to 40 per cent.
This implies that out of the 95,000 pilgrims expected to perform hajj in 2023, 40 per cent (representing 38,000 pilgrims) would be airlifted by FlyNas while the remaining 57,000 would be airlifted by the six participating Nigerian carriers.
But from the 95,000, the tour operators have 20,000 slots and the number of pilgrims for the appointed carriers may be less as some of the private operators also patronise other scheduled airlines to Saudi Arabia.
A source who spoke with our correspondent said, “We agreed to 40:60; 40 per cent to Saudi Airline and 60 percent to Nigerian airlines. However, based on the existing bilateral agreement, by now it should have been 50:50.
“The last time we went to sign an agreement, we were able to bid for 60:40. All Nigerian carriers will have 60 per cent while Saudi registered airline, FlyNas, will have 40 per cent. We tried to review it to 30, 35 but the Saudi resisted. You know it was supposed to be a gradual implementation.
“For other countries; Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Malaysia, it is 50:50. We tried to get 60 per cent to support the growth of the aviation sector as more and more people are investing in the aviation industry.”
When contacted, a spokesperson with NAHCON, Alhaji Mousa Ubandawaki confirmed that the NAHCON leadership pleaded for more time before the 50:50 quota would take effect while reiterating that the agreement predated the present and the immediate past leadership of the commission.
Deal not fair to Nigeria – Experts
Some experts in the aviation industry believe the deal is not fair to Nigeria with Saudi Arabia reaping more from it.
They argued that while Saudi authorities could justify taking 50 per cent slots in some countries that lacked capacity among other constraints, this could not be the same in Nigeria as many airlines, despite numerous home grown challenges, were pushing to give their best for best domestic and international flights.
They said with more support from the government and fair deal by other countries, the Nigerian airlines could change the tide for the better, generate more revenue, pay tax and provide job opportunities.
The Director of Research and Corporate Travels, Zenith Travels, Mr Olumide Ohunayo said the 40 per cent deal for the Saudi carrier still needs to be reviewed.
He said, “We have been on this for the past five years. If I can recall, I think this is not fair to Nigeria. Countries like Pakistan, Egypt that also have high numbers of pilgrims are airlifted by their airlines.
“So why will Nigeria be subjected to that when we also pay 80 dollars per passenger to the authorities there?
“I think the government needs to step in. It is not about religion now; it is about the business aspect of the trip. Is FlyNas carrying our pilgrims free? If it is not free, then they should do their normal flight or come to a Nigerian investor.
“Using the law to take away 40 per cent of our pilgrims is not right. It shouldn’t be by quota. Why are they taking 40 per cent by fiat?”
He stressed the need for all stakeholders to come to a roundtable to “readjust” the quota system. Also, an aviation analyst, Group Capt John Ojikutu who raised the issue in 2018 insisted that the 40 per cent is still a bad deal for Nigeria.
“Why would five Nigerian airlines be vying for 50% of the passengers to Saudi when just one Saudi airline will be taking the other 50%, or 40%? There is still more to what is being said to what we are hearing. I still don’t get it.”
‘We’ve to respect bilateral agreements’
But another hajj stakeholder, Alhaji Bello Salihu said as long as it is a bilateral agreement, Nigeria has to respect it since it has gone through the process of negotiation.
Salihu, who is the Managing Director, Butake Resources Limited, a ground handling company based in Kaduna and former staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways, said stakeholders must always be carried along when signing BASA with another country to ensure it is not one-sided.
“If it applies to other countries, do we have an option as a country? This is an issue of BASA. When I was in the commercial department of Nigeria Airways, there was an in-house committee that was constituted where all departments in Nigeria Airways including engineering would be involved in order to take a formal stand.
“We have the capacity. Air Peace has wide-bodied aircraft. Azman has Airbus, Max Air has 747. We have the capacity.”
Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Capt Ado Sanusi noted that Nigeria did not consider the business side of hajj operation while signing the agreement. He, however, called for a review of the agreement.
‘Capacity not enough, passengers suffer’
Speaking about the capacity of the local airlines, an economic analyst in Abuja, Dauda Jibril, said hajj operation is not just about capacity saying there are other variables.
“I must say that Nigerian airlines have to raise their capacity and be more organised. I have figures of various airlines that left pilgrims stranded last year, including Skypower and Azman. Maybe when the Nigerian government and the Saudi authorities see improvement in local capacity, we can better renegotiate the quota.
“The Saudi airlines at times, will finish their quota and still help out with some for the local airlines, so I don’t see it as a thing of competition but that of quality finishing,” Jibril said.
Citing previous poor services by the local airlines, the analyst referred to the Executive Secretary of the Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Danbatta, who in 2022, held a briefing accusing an airline of “lacking the capacity to manage the conveyance of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.”
Danbatta, who lodged a formal complaint with NAHCON, said Kano had over 2, 000 pilgrims but the airline airlifted only 900 pilgrims.
“We summoned over 400 pilgrims for screening at the camp, and they were left stranded for over 24 hours. We intimated NAHCON about the development, only (for them) to inform us that Azman would no longer airlift Kano passengers. We are told that Saudi air, FlyNas, has been assigned to Kano,” he said.
However, Chairman of Skypower Express Airline, Capt Mohammed Joji, said it is a lie to say Nigerian carriers don’t have capacity. He said FlyNas sees the Nigerian route as a profitable venture during hajj operations because of the high airfares.
According to him, by the time the airfare is reduced and a level playing field created for all carriers, the business would be less lucrative.
“The question I always ask them is, in every country where pilgrims go to the hajj, how many millions of passengers would they carry?” he asked.
Another airline operator said, “It is not a question of capacity. It is all about encouraging your own. The FlyNas you are talking about doesn’t have a single 747 aircraft in its fleet yet leased from the sister airlines for the purpose of hajj operations. If you observe, Lion Air of Indonesia has been a major partner of FlyNas.”
Pilgrim to pay N826, 000 above
While NAHCON has fixed about N3m per pilgrim as the total hajj fare for 2023, the air fare component, it was gathered, is between $1,780 (N826, 810 at 464.5 exchange rate) to $1, 950 (N898,000) for the North and South respectively.
Going by the agreement ceding 40% or 38,000 pilgrims to FlyNas, it means the airline alone might be raking in about $74,100,000 (N34.1bn) from the airlift while all the Nigerian carriers would make $111,150,000 (N51. 1bn).
However, aviation analysts said more should have been done to review the quota and give a level playing field for all participating airlines.
