The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), Mr Chike Ogeah gave the charge during the Aviation Economic Summit Group (AESG) organised by Business Travel Weekly at the conference hall of Murtala Mohammed Airport 2(MMA2) Lagos last Friday.
He stated that government had an obligation to provide palliative measures to lessen the effect of the meltdown on the airlines so they could survive.
According to him, the current global cash crunch had made it very difficult for airlines to meet their obligations to service providers in the aviation sector.
Oghea said, “You all know we are in business because of the airlines, there is no doubt. Those of us in the airport, those of us in ground handling, and those of us in catering, all service providers as you call it. But what happens when the airlines are having a very bad run like we see now? I have said it extensively that government needs to provide some form of palliative measures for them. But certainly it is not going to come from the service providers themselves who also like the airlines have a business to run. We also have our own liabilities, we have our obligations to our contractors, to our workers and to all other things that we have to put in place to keep the business growing”.
He said SAHCOL was at the verge of completing its privatization process which would see fresh funds being injected into the company pointing out that the company had hitherto been running on internally generated revenue.
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Aloysius Etuk stated that if the airlines in the country must survive, government had to provide a bailout for them.
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