a toll on activities at the domestic terminals
of the Lagos airport, with airline officials
lamenting low patronage in the past few days.
Some airline officials told our correspondent
in confidence on Monday, that the passengers
seemed to have developed apathy towards air
travel, stressing that they might have become
scared of flying following recent
developments in the industry.
The officials confirmed that some passengers
had called in to cancel earlier bookings, while
most of the aircraft taking off from both the
Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 and
the General Aviation Terminal to various
destinations in the country have had to
depart with fewer passengers on board than
usual.
Analysts say the development is a setback to
the operators because flying with fewer
passengers can make the airlines run at a loss.
An official of one of the major carriers told
our correspondent that the airline has had to
reschedule some of its flights in the past two
weeks due to dwindling patronage and in
order not to run at a total loss.
The official, who asked not to be named
because of the sensitive nature of the subject,
said, "Lately, activities have not been going on
as usual; we have noticed a general reduction
in patronage. At first, we chalked it up to the
fact that the summer is over and people may
be travelling less at this period; but further
investigations have shown that some
customers appear a bit sceptical about air
travels for the time being.
"Perhaps, this is as a result of the number of
mishaps that have been recorded in the
Nigerian airspace in the last few weeks. As a
result of this, we have had to adjust our flying
times in a few cases to ensure that we are
able to accommodate more passengers, while
running fewer schedules, this is in an attempt
to assist the management to break even."
On Thursday, October 3, 2013, an Associated
Airline plane crashed in Lagos shortly after
taking off, killing 15 out of the 20 passengers
on board.
Twenty-four hours after, a Kabo Airlines'
Boeing 747-400 plane carrying 512 pilgrims
made an emergency landing at the Sokoto
airport with deflated tyres and damaged the
airport's Instrument Landing System.
On October 7, 2013, the Federal Government
suspended the operations of Dana Airlines
once again, citing the need to carry out an
operational audit on the carrier.
On Sunday, October 13, an IRS Airlines'
Fokker 100 plane carrying 99 passengers also
made an emergency landing at the Kaduna
airport after developing hydraulic problems
mid air.
A passenger, Mr. Uche Igbokwe, told our
correspondent at the MMA2 terminal on
Monday, that he had come to see if he could
get a refund for a flight he had earlier
booked.
He said, "I am a businessman who lives in
Lagos, but I shuttle between Abuja and Lagos
two or three times every month. I actually
booked a ticket for a flight to Abuja towards
the end of last month to fly on Wednesday,
but the air crashes and near crashes
witnessed in recent times have become
worrisome to me.
"My family advised me to use the road
transport option for the time being, until
things are a bit settled in the industry, and I
seem to agree with them. So, I have come to
see if I can reclaim at least some of my
money. I know the road option is some
distance, but I will have to manage until
things improve in the aviation sector."
An aide to a principal officer of the National
Assembly, who pleaded not to be named, said
he had stopped travelling by air to any
destination in the country, but was now
embarking on his journeys by road because of
the "unsafe state of aviation" in the country.
Corroborating this, the Chief Executive
Officer, Gadeshire Travels and Tours, Mr.
Olugbenga Adebayo, said there had been
reduced bookings for local flights by
passengers.
He said, "Well, we have noticed that there is
this phobia, which our customers did not use
to exhibit before. It is not really that most of
them do not want to fly again, but they are
now being very choosy about the kind of flight
they want to get on.
"If they do not see big airline carriers, they
will refuse to fly and will rather take the road
option. And you know that currently, we have
limited carriers with big capacities in the
country.
"We believe it may be as a result of all the
issues we have been having in the Nigerian
airspace lately, and this seems to be the little
challenge that we are facing in the local
aviation sector for now, but it is not affecting
international travels."
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