Guardian

Mr. Adeshina Babatunde is the General Manager, Fly4cheaper.com, a domestic Travel Agency assisting passengers with flight services. He speaks on improvements recorded in the domestic aviation system in recent times, and shines the light of some challenges that still requires government intervention, prime among which is the hiccups experienced in accessing domestic flight tickets.

What has been the bane of domestic aviation in Nigeria?

The Domestic Aviation System in Nigeria is changing and we are proud to be part of the new order. The current leadership of the Aviation industry, NCAA, NAMA and FAAN, has been up to the task. When fly4cheaper rolled out its services in 2011, we were the only agency that did dedicate ourselves to the development of the domestic sector. We were the only agency that sold tickets for IRS, Chanchangi, First Nation and a host of others. We handled tickets for Dana, Air Nigeria, Arik and Aero Contractors. The fact is that fly4cheaper was the very first serious agency to accept the responsibility of partnering with our local airlines to make available their inventory via 3rd parties.

However, in spite of the continued huge investment in the sector, the fact that passengers cannot easily buy IRS, Chanchangi or any other local airline ticket through local travel agents remains a daunting challenge that must be resolved if our domestic airlines will operate profitably. Is it not an irony that while you could easily buy British Airways or Lufthanza tickets across the street of Lagos, you will have to rush to the Lagos Airport to buy IRS ticket. It is much easier and convenient to buy ticket for a London trip through your agent while it is practically impossible to do same when traveling between Lagos and Abuja. The bureaucratic bottlenecks responsible for this development must be taken care of in the interest of profitability.

What do you think is responsible for the development?

The airlines always require the agents to provide huge deposits (in several millions) in order to be able to issue tickets, as the commissions on local travels are almost peanuts. In fact, in some situations, the airline will give zero commission. For instance, prior to the First Nation disengaging its operation, we were issuing tickets for the airline at a loss. Tickets were very expensive and most times after checking our cost of logistics, we were actually subsidising the tickets for our customers.

There is a definite need for a platform that will make it possible for NCAA to superintend the availability of domestic tickets to travel agents nationwide without the need for cash deposits to different airlines. Asking travelers to run to the airport in these days and age makes it tough for airlines to get sufficient load to keep them flying. This system needs to change and I am unsure if IATA can address this situation correctly.

What can government do to improve on the situation?

One of the major problems facing our airlines today has to do with Interlining. When an airline cancels a flight, passengers’ travel plans are severely disrupted with no assistance or help. For real growth to take place in the local aviation system, government must bring the airlines to a round table discussion and work out modalities that would ensure seamless interlining among the airlines to ensure that tickets of these airlines are endorsable and passengers can be given other choices when flights are delayed or canceled for any reason whatsoever.

With the recent air disasters, do you think the sector is living up to the expectation of making flying safe?

The domestic airlines are living up to expectation and I must commend the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for enforcing higher standard and rules, and ensuring that airlines toe the path of honour, especially in the area of equipment maintenances, repairs and other operational issues.

MedView is the latest entrant into the market; they recently announced their acquisition of Boeing 737-400. This is a wonderful feat coming from a very young airline. We are exceedingly proud to endorse this airline. It is very prompt and has had no issues whatsoever since launching its service some months ago. However, Chanchangi remains one of the very best airlines in the Nigerian airspace at this time. With zero accident records and extremely efficient services, this Kaduna-based airline is one of the airlines to watch out for in the future. Their aircrafts are modern and their crew are extremely professional such that they are always the first choice for charter for the Nigerian Military, the Federal Government, the UN system and other top organizations. Arik has been doing very well, extending its services to previously un-serviced airports across the nation and I strongly believed that if government had taken over Air Nigeria instead of allowing it to self-destruct, our aviation system would have been better for it.

I honestly think Dr Demuren is doing a wonderful job at the NCAA and I am hopeful that 2013 may be the beginning of a great turn around for our local airlines and local air travelers. Fly4cheaper will continue to work with airlines and authorities to ensure that germane issues in the sector are brought to the fore, for address by concerned stakeholders. NANTA’s leadership has tried but I expect them to work with the local airlines in a way that both stakeholders will benefit.

For us at fly4cheaper, we will continue to seek for and bring the cheapest travel prices to our passengers and continue to support in every way our local airlines towards ensuring a mutual win-win. As at today, we are supporting some airlines with technology and we hope to do more in the days ahead.