NCAA’s six aircraft program
COME January 2025, all airline operators in Nigeria must have, at least, six aircraft in their fleet, according to a new policy enacted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. This is the Authority’s response towards fixing the growing inadequacies in service delivery by our commercial airline operators.
According to this policy, out of the six, four must be airworthy, while the other two might either be undergoing maintenance or aircraft on ground, AOG, temporarily not running flight schedules. Current operators who do not have up to six planes must work towards that or risk closure.
The Director General of the NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, told newsmen recently that the policy was aimed at boosting the capacity of airlines. This will enable them to meet their schedules and minimise the flight delays and cancellations which are the banes of our domestic industry.
Indeed, many airline companies lack adequate capacity. A situation where an airliner owns only two or three aircraft will leave it vulnerable to poor service delivery when one or two of them cannot be deployed for scheduled flights for technical or other reasons. Their customers suffer irreparable losses. Given the fact that many of these travellers are foreign visitors, it does not augur well for our economic well-being and reputation as a nation.
Be that as it may, we strongly query the depth of thinking behind this policy. In this policy, the impunity of a regulator with the mindset of a military administrator is on display. A typical military mindset believes a problem can be solved with a silver bullet, fire brigade approach and without a meticulous think-through.
Even if airline operators acquire 10 aircraft each, they can still operate inefficiently, provide poor services, accumulate debts and drop out of the market. Airlines like Aero, Arik, Chanchangi and others, were once industry giants. Throughout their eras of magisterial domination of the air, none of them recorded fatal accidents.
Yet, Chanchangi has gone out of business and the other two have become a shadow of themselves. Even with its intimidating current dominance, Air Peace sometimes provides poor services.
The problem is in a system conditioned by poor governance. The greatest problem facing airline operators today is scarcity of foreign exchange to source inputs for effective operation. The second is difficulty and extremely high cost of credit.
Given its special place in the economy, the aviation sector requires a comprehensive approach to its problem solving. The Minister, under presidential mandate, should call a meeting of all stakeholders, especially those running the airlines, to ascertain where their shoe pinches them. Government must do its own part of the work: make the operating environment friendly to the operators.
NCAA’s six aircraft policy is nothing but a burden-shifting measure that adds very little value
