Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
- Says IWAF is an opportunity to showcase Nigeria positively
MANAGING director Medview Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, has expressed his disapproval of a statement credited to the Aviation Round Table (ART) calling for 20 aircraft before an airline can be granted Air Operating Certificate (AOC).
According the the Medview Chief executive, the number of aircraft to be operated is an issue of regulation and not something that should be bandied around to drag airlines down further.
Speaking to reporters at the ICAO World Aviation Forum, ( IWAF), Bankole posited that aviation is not child’s play and with the capital intensive nature, it not right to make declarations and not back it with realities of what the airlines have to contend with.
” ART cannot talk about AOC or aircraft acquisition and with due respect to my fathers and brothers at the ART, the idea for the regulator to increase stake on the minimum number of aircraft for operation doesn’t follow. What should matter is how you use what you have to build capacity and entrench the safety needs. Aviation is not a child’s play and we have to contend with a lot of challenges from training of staff to maintenance of which last year we did one and this is the reality of the cost intensive nature of the business.”
The ART had in a recent communique called for 20 to be the minimum number of aircraft on an airline’s fleet before they are granted AOCs.
On the IWAF conference proper and its subject matter, Bankole said it would be an opportunity to discuss some of the financial challenges in the aviation industry in Nigeria and provide solutions that would be beneficial.
He was elated on the fact that other than Canada, the conference has not been held elsewhere stating that it was both humbling and beneficial .
” I would say we are behind in infrastructure but this is a global opportunity for us to come together and get a piece of cake because anywhere we got he outside world does not take us seriously, maybe for the opportunity for those who have come for the forum, they will see Nigeria in its true perspective and have a rethink.”
“Most of our projects are stalled because of lack of funds to execute the,, our industry is on the downward spiral because of the antecedents of the past, there are so many challenges but this is an opportunity to discuss them, rub minds and change the concept.”
Kindly help me ask those suggesting 20 aircraft as prerequisite for AOC, how many they can boast of?.
We have “authorities in aviation today who were part of the decision makers that buried Nigeria airways.
It is the servant that turns two talents to four, five to ten that deserves more because he has shown ability, capacity, skills to efficiently manage resources be it human or material.
My suggestion has always been three aircraft for scheduled operations so that two will always be available for service at all times.
Volume of passengers, running cost, staff training, minimum break through flights and passengers to cover direct operating cost were to be considered.
Airlines need to interact, cooperate and form alliances in operations to reduce overhead cost.
The man who wears the shoe knows where it pinches not onlookers.