2023: Year of disruptions, failed promises for aviation

Nigeria’s aviation has undoubtedly advanced with more airlines coming in and more aircraft in the sky in the last 10 years but the growth has not translated into a significant contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, recently disclosed that the sector contributed about N117 billion which is 4% to the GDP in the first quarter of 2022 as it supports about 200,000 jobs and pays about N8.5 billion in tax annually.

With over 200 million population, less than 10% of Nigerians are flying in a sector largely considered elitist and exclusively reserved for the affluent.

The year 2023 held a great promise for the industry being a transition year from one democratically elected government to another and by extension the change of baton in the Ministry of Aviation coordinating no fewer than six agencies responsible for civil aviation and providing services for operators in the system.

However, as the year winds down, it cannot be said that the industry has gained any momentum. To many observers and stakeholders in the industry, it was a year of dashed expectations and unfulfilled promises.

The year started amidst the heated political climate ahead of the 2023 electioneering, which created an atmosphere of uncertainty in all sectors of the economy. But as aviation is regarded as a business of freedom, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry was at the forefront of providing logistics support to the political leaders and actors during the electioneering.

However, the year 2023 witnessed several disruptions in terms of flight operations, policy implementation and policy summersaults.

Unions’ strike at NAHCO

Early in January, the aviation unions, including the Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Services, disrupted flight operations when workers of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO aviance) embarked on strike over poor remuneration and welfare package.

This affected local and international flights for 10 hours before a truce was reached but not without huge revenue losses to airlines.

Nigeria Air

Until those concerned were called to explain what went wrong with Nigeria Air, the conversation over the national carrier project will linger forever, haunting the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The greater part of 2023 was dissipated in discussions around Nigeria Air. First, in January, the legal battle over the national carrier resumed at the Federal High Court in Lagos as the federal government made frantic efforts to vacate the order stopping the establishment of the airline.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had in 2022 sued the federal government challenging the proposed establishment of the airline in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines. The FG, through the immediate past minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had selected Ethiopian Airlines as the technical adviser for the national carrier but the AON, representing the domestic carriers, kicked against it and instituted a legal case against the government, saying it was conferring special advantage on Ethiopian Airlines to the detriment of the domestic operators.

Despite the legal case, the federal government went ahead with floating the airline as the former minister insisted the airline would fly before the end of the Buhari administration; and he continued the process.

In February after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Sirika said, “Nigeria Air will soon start flying, we’ve got the aircraft ready, they’re painted in the colours. We’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s. We are at stage five of the AOC issuance by the NCAA. Once that is done, the airline will begin to fly.

“There are five steps altogether; we have completed stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and are now at stage 5, where the aircraft is prepared to take off.”

However, in controversial circumstances, the minister just a few days to the end of the Buhari administration, unveiled the national carrier. A Boeing 737-800 aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 12:43pm on Friday, May 26. It was welcomed with a ceremonial water cannon to herald the inaugural flight of a new airline.

It was later discovered that the aircraft, ET-APL unveiled as Nigeria Air, was owned by Ethiopian Airlines. Four days later, it returned to the service of Ethiopian Airlines raising questions about the intent. It was later revealed that ET was contacted to provide the aircraft as a demonstration flight ostensibly to prove that the promised national carrier was achieved. Up till today, questions are still being asked about what has become of the national carrier.

Controversial airport concession

Sirika also in May claimed to have completed the process of concessioning the airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt but up till now the airports’ structure has not changed amidst doubt, misgivings and disbelief about what has happened.

Both national carrier and airport concession were signature projects under the six-point aviation development roadmap of the immediate past administration unveiled by Sirika. However, there were doubts about whether any of the roadmap projects was achieved in the eight years of the administration.

The new minister, Mr. Festus Keyamo, on assumption of office, suspended the Nigeria Air and airport concession projects citing controversies trailing them.

Airlines’ trapped funds

In the year under review, the issue of foreign airlines’ trapped funds dominated discourse at the national, continental and global levels as airlines were unable to repatriate their ticket sale proceeds to their home countries due to foreign exchange scarcity.

The issue didn’t just start today. The money has accumulated over time and it is now estimated to be around $800m and as a result ticket fares have gone up as airlines removed low inventories from their system.

At every forum, Nigeria was being called out for being the only country holding the largest chunk of airlines’ trapped funds globally and the crisis is getting worse as more people travel and patronise the foreign airlines.

Change of baton

As 2023 is a transition year witnessing the change of baton from one democratically elected president to another, the administration of aviation also witnessed a change of baton; while Sirika exited, Keyamo took over the mantle of leadership.

On 21st August 2023, Keyamo was sworn in alongside other members of the FEC and was posted to the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development being the new nomenclature of the ministry. He immediately set sail with his five cardinal points or roadmap.

These five areas include strict compliance with national laws and regulations; and international obligations, improvement and development of infrastructure for passenger convenience; support for the growth and sustenance of local airline businesses; human capacity development and optimisation of revenue generation. Stakeholders are still divided over his stewardship of the industry in the last five months.

Apart from the change of baton at the ministerial level, the agencies under the ministry also witnessed a series of disruptions. From Sirika’s last-minute appointments of heads of agencies, there was a change of baton. And as the year winds down, the new minister sacked all the agency chief executives and directors, providing room for another change of batons in the six agencies including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).

The newly appointed CEOs have assumed their respective offices while 46 newly appointed directors are also taking over from those earlier sacked by the government.

In sacking the CEOs, one of the disruptions during the year is the suspension of the DG of Civil Aviation, Capt. Musa Nuhu, over alleged corrupt practice. Nuhu, as the head of the apex regulator, can only be sacked with the approval of the Senate upon proven allegations of corrupt practices. This is yet to be decided.

African aviation summit

Nigeria hosted the 7th African Aviation Summit and Exhibition which was held in Abuja this year. It was a gathering of who is who in African aviation and by extension the global aviation world as the summit attracted big players in aviation including foremost aircraft manufacturers – Boeing, Airbus and Embraer. This was to the credit of the NCAA under Capt. Nuhu who facilitated the summit which exposed the huge potential in Nigeria’s aviation.

MMIA shutdown

The shutdown of the 40-year-old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) was another major disruption in the year. The new minister gave October 1 for the shutdown but the terminal was shut two weeks before the deadline after it was partly gutted by fire while all foreign airlines were relocated to the new terminal.

Up till now, the disruption in foreign airlines’ operations continues forcing the government to recant and return some airlines to the old terminal.

Runway 18R/36L

The continued closure of runway 18R/36L of the MMIA in Lagos is another disruption witnessed during the year. The runway serves international airlines.

It would be recalled that FAAN had closed runway 18R/36L on March 11, 2023, for a period of eight weeks to carry out maintenance works on it while both international and local flights were diverted to Runway 18L/36R, which is meant to serve only domestic flights.

It could be recalled that runway 18L/36R was used for only daylight operations for over 14 years due to the non-availability of airfield lighting, a critical component aiding night operations before it was fixed by the last administration. But during the closure of the international runway for scheduled maintenance, the lighting facilities were stolen, resulting in the prolonged delay in reopening it amidst the inconveniences to the operation of foreign airlines.

As the New Year begins, stakeholders are anxious about what the new helmsman in aviation, especially the newly appointed CEOs and directors, brings to the table to sail the ship of the industry in a better, more productive and reassuring direction after a turbulent 2023. Will the status quo change? Only time will tell.