Why foreign airlines can’t partner Nigerian carriers, by Lufthansa boss

Vice-President (Sales and Services Southeast Europe, Africa and Middle East), Lufthansa German Airlines, one of Europe’s mega carriers, Tamur Goudarzi-Pour, has explained why foreign airlines are not disposed to partnering with their Nigerian counterparts. The Lufthansa boss, who spoke with New Telegraph at the weekend in Lagos, said for such partnerships to come to fruition, Nigerian carriers must improve their standards in terms of integrity, safety and reliability of their products, among others. He said: “For Lufthansa to partner with Nigerian airlines, there are things that must be put in place.

They need to up their standards to be reliable with their schedules, raise the bar with safety and it is also very good for them to be very reliable with their products.” These problems have affected seriously the inability of any of Nigerian carriers to compete with their foreign counter parts.Only two airlines are International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certified. IOSA is an integral process and procedure mechanism through which IATA evaluates airlines’ integral safety processes.

IATA also says it is an internationally accepted evaluation process designed by IATA and ICAO by extension, in assessing operational management and control systems of airlines. It has also allowed foreign airlines to account for 92 per cent of the international passenger traffic into and out of the country while Nigerian airlines account for the remaining eight per cent, according to statistics released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) early this year. Previous reports had shown that over 20 foreign airlines repatriated above N400 billion made from ticket sales to their various countries every year.

Another study prepared by the United States-based Sabre Travel Network whose West African office is in Nigeria, shows that 26 foreign airlines offer 2,316,288 aircraft seats to the Nigerian international travel market every year, while their Nigerian counterparts offer only 202,228 seats.

The report puts the international travel market aircraft capacity at 2,518,516 annual seats. The study, made available to New Telegraph, indicates that lack of adequate number of dominant national carriers on the part of Nigeria is responsible for the international airlines’ passenger traffic trend. According to the Sabre report, the Nigerian aviation sector contributes only 0.4 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in Spain, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Germany, the contribution to the GDP is 5.2 per cent, 5.0 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.

The study notes that aviation is a major employer of labour and has the capacity to reduce the country’s unemployment rate if the government comes up with the right policies. Meanwhile, Managing Director, West Africa, Lufthansa German Airlines, Clau Becker said the carrier has designated Lagos as the centre and regional headquarters of its sub-saharan sales, station and administration organisation leading marketing and sales for the company across the continent, including East Africa and Southern Africa countries.