By Ime Akpan
Lagos
The managing director and chief executive of Med-View Airline, Mr. Muneer Bankole has said that some Nigerian domestic airlines that sell tickets for N8000 and N9000 would not make any profit due to high cost of aviation fuel in the country.
Speaking in an interview recently, Bankole said some airlines fly to Ghana to buy fuel because the product sells higher in Nigeria.
“We are not doing business in Nigeria. The advantage today, which I keep telling Nigerians, is that we have the fuel and the manpower. All the government needs to do is to align with the operators and the marketers and work out something. It is our country and that is why I keep saying it all the time. They can give the marketers rebate.
“Most of our colleagues, who are selling tickets at N8, 000 and N9, 000, I want to be honest with you, are not making profit. To do an hour’s flight between Lagos and Abuja should not be less than N15, 000 and above minimum, taking into consideration the fuel, aircraft and maintenance. If you fly an aircraft for N8, 000 and N9, 000, when it is time for you to do maintenance, you will find the aircraft on ground,” he said.
To better the lot of domestic carriers, Bankole called on the minister of aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, to revisit the proposal mooted by his predecessor.
“Let me make reference to the initial plans of the former minister of aviation, Stella Oduah, presented to airline operators. She said the country would have some of aircraft manufacturers-Boeing, Embraer and Airbus- to give Nigerians a new lease of life by bringing them to site maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility and simulator base in Nigeria for Nigerians have access to all these things without necessarily going outside, but none materialised. I hope the new minister will look into all these and be able to tell Nigeria what it needs to do because we as operators, we are spending fortunes to maintain our aircraft abroad apart from the obvious fact that it is a form of capital flight,” said Bankole.
Meanwhile, Bankole said Ghanaian airlines were ready to Med-View because of capacity.
“The Ghanaian airlines are of the opinion that they would join Med-View because of capacity. Presently, they have registered about three to four of them, but sadly, it’s only one airline that is flying among them. One of them is talking to us now and we are trying to look at the window. If you don’t have the capacity, but you have a licence, the best thing for you is to align with those that have the capacity. Today, we have about six aircraft in our fleet. We have a Boeing 767, which is presently used for our Hajj operations. It is our aircraft, which we are leasing for the next one year and it is going to serve our Dubai route,” he said.
