Aviation expert, Nick Fadugba has disclosed that air transportation in Africa can be a catalyst for economic development on the continent and one that can bring African people together.
Fadugba made the assertion recently at the just concluded 17th MRO conference organized by African Aviation Services in Cairo, Egypt.
He reiterated that for air transport to grow in the continent, there has to be improved safety, adding that the only way to do so was to have airworthy aircraft through periodic maintenance.
His words, “If you look across the continent, you find out that there are only a few areas of MRO excellence in Africa, even Egypt had not developed then, but in Durban, yes; in Ethiopia and Morocco and maybe one or two other places. In fact, it is shameful that even on the west coast, we don’t have anything to speak of; even in Nigeria . I am not happy with the situation in Nigeria . There is the need to have a safe aviation in the African continent, run by African airlines, and don’t forget that our aircraft are older and the older they get the more maintenance they need and therefore we said if airlines don’t have the money to buy new aircraft then they must maintain adequately the old ones they have”.
Fadugba disclosed the need to safer skies occasioned by periodic aircraft maintenance made him to push for Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Africa “and over the past 17 years it has grown and I think there is a large turn out here, over 200 people are registered, a lot of more foreign organizations from North America, from China and of course Europe and African countries”, he added.
He noted that the idea for yearly summit was to bring the foreign experts here, like Lufthansa, Delta, KLM, Air France “and through building relationships we can move forward because to be honest with you I don’t think many African countries have the capabilities to build maintenance facilities on their own”.
“ There is no need to re-invent the wheel. These people have it. Through JVs (Joint Ventures) you achieve win-win situation. We can get the infrastructure; even in Ethiopia , Ethiopian Airlines is in partnership with Lufthansa Technic) you can see the transformation. They are very proactive. It is to me a mark of great concern that in Nigeria which is probably the most active aviation market in the African continent in terms—when you look at the whole strata of the Nigerian society—from the market woman to the board chairman, everybody is flying, while in other countries in the continent may be the top class are flying. In South Africa how many people are flying when you look at the strata of the society? Nigeria is very unique; we have a vibrant industry; we have a population, but unfortunately the facilities in aviation are very poor and need to be improved,” he added.
Fadugba, who is also the publisher of African Aviation Magazine regretted that there is no way the aviation industry could be grown without having a major MRO facility.
According to him, “How can you grow an industry if you don’t have a major MRO facility? People have been trying here and there but why don’t we have the calibre of Egypt or Ethiopia or South African Airways or Royal Air Maroc? These guys are making money. MRO is a profitable business. If you put your aircraft there you can spend million of dollars to put it up to shape, so it is not that you are not making money”.
He lamented that long after a blueprint on national hangar was drawn, he said the project was yet to take off, stressing that the documents needs to be polished up’ just as he called for private sector participation in the project.
Speaking on growth in air traffic in recent times, he explained that after September 11(2001) the market fell flat;, adding that it was interesting to know that after September 11 when traffic across the North Atlantic to New York fell, many European airlines used their aircraft capacity to fly to Africa.
“Flights to Lagos were increased; flights to Johannesburg were increased, to Mauritius , to Seychelles —all European were turning their attention on Africa, rather than have idle aircraft and of course the margins they enjoy in Africa are astronomical. They are earning a good living in Africa; maybe at the expense of Africa airlines.
That is the fault of African airlines and government. African governments over generously give airlines from outside Africa frequencies at the expense of their own industry. That should be rectified. But what am saying is, in terms of growth, even though IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) is predicting a downturn in 20008, if you look at the average growth rate globally, Africa is higher than the global average. I believe globally is about five per cent, while Africa is about eight per cent”.
“This is not bad. It shows progress, that we are moving in the right direction. Though we have to start with a small volume and hoped it would be better; but it could be worse. So we have to thank God for that. What does it mean to have a Boeing market? It means that the airlines are making money; it means that they are more bankable; they are more financiable. They can buy modern aircraft new or nearly new. They can bring the aircraft; increase their net worth, services quality etc.”,
Asked if government was right in concessioning some airports in the country, Fadugba wondered why government should privatise the viable airports when others that are unviable are yet to be taken a look at.
“Many of the airports are not profitable. Why would you privatise the most profitable and keep the loss making? Who is going to finance them? If you want to bring private enterprise let them keep the loss making and turn them to viable airports. States are still building airports while many of them are unprofitable. They are also building cargo airports. Which cargo airlines are in Nigeria? All these show that we have to think; we have to plan carefully, not just build white elephant projects”.
“ We have 21 airports already; let’s take the ones which are not profitable, and now we say we are going to give away the most profitable and government say it has no money to take care of the airports. It was the profitable ones that were subsidising the profitable so now who is going to take charge of them? Once you take the profitable ones and the unprofitable remain they will have to be shut down because there will be no radar and air traffic controllers and others”, he added.