National carrier plan’ll fail within five years –Experts

Experts in the aviation sector have predicted that the national carrier project being currently promoted by the Federal Government will likely fail in the next five years.

For instance, a former Executive Director of Bellview Airlines, Mr. Gbenga Olowo, hinged his prediction on the fact that the regulators had yet to put things in place to ensure the successful take-off of the carrier.

Olowo said this in an interview with our correspondent on the sidelines of an event organised by the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative in Lagos on Thursday.

He stated that the project was bound to fail because key issues that caused the failure of some top airlines in the country in the past had not been addressed.

Olowo said, “If the Federal Government decides to go ahead with the single national carrier plan, I am giving that project just five years; it will go the way of others before it. I am saying this because the authorities have not addressed the basic issues.

“Take the issue of fuel, which has been a major problem for our operators over the years; we have not addressed it yet, and also, the environment has been killing these things airlines; you have to put all these things into consideration before such a project can work.”

He said what the country needed at this point in time were three national carriers, and urged the Federal Government to designate three domestic carriers as national carriers.

Olowo, who is also the President, Sabre Travel Network, said the three airlines to be designated as national carriers should have the capacity to grow their fleet to about 50 aircraft, adding that this was the only way Nigerian carriers could compete with the over 27 foreign airlines flying into the country.

He said if the domestic airlines must compete with the foreign carriers, they needed to embrace consolidation by pulling resources together to enhance their capacities.

 Olowo said the current low capacity level of Nigerian carriers explained why none of them could enter into major global airline alliances.

A former Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Capt. Roland Iyayi, canvassed a three-tier licensing structure for domestic airlines, which should be granted approval for operations according to the scope and capacity of their operations.