March 15, (THEWILL) – Renowned aviation expert has attributed the current scarcity of Jet A1, popularly known as aviation fuel, to the inability of the government to put the country’s refineries in order.
An aviation expert and a former director of operations, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NACHO), Mr Hurbert Odika, who disclosed this at the weekend in an interview in Lagos state, also traced the hike in air fares to the airlines running cost.
Odika explained that the industry would never have witnessed the current economic predicament caused by shortage of aviation fuel if the industry assuming the refineries were working.
“We will refine here at cheaper labour cost, no ocean freight to bring back the finished product, no charges in foreign currency for refining the PMS or AGO to return them back to the country. Nigeria at the moment is cheating itself.”
He remarked that he was very optimistic that President Buhari who had worked as a Minister of Petroleum in 1979 and chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), would have taken it as top priority that refineries will be up and running.
Odika expressed displeasure that till today, no one had explained why the refineries were not up and running.
The aviation expert noted that marketers of diesel were having a good time and called on the government to make refineries work.
According to him, the oil boom was time bound as renewable energy has come to stay as the west were working seriously to ensure that by 2040, renewable energy in Europe will form 80 – 90 percent of their consumption.
He called on the government for the time left for the oil boom to allow all the refineries to be made to work and search for alternative areas of revenue generation.
“Over dependence on oil is time bound, 20 years maximum for major exports that we can boost now. It doesn’t mean that we will not sell any more, but a limited amount for Nigeria.”
Odika congratulated the airlines in the country for forming an alliance, as it has the capacity of keeping domestic airlines alive and providing consumer satisfaction.
He said airlines can now transfer passengers to other airlines and it will help to improve on standards, timing, apart from weather. Adding that days of sitting endlessly at the airport waiting for flights to come were over with the alliance.
On the fare hike, Odika said it was expected like every other business, but remarked that the hike in Jet A1 sounded unrealistic to him from N200 to N625 per litre.
He stated that, if there was justification to the increase in fare, the airlines were at will to do so, but not to make it a blanket increase across the nation.
“You don’t charge the same fare for a flight to Benin that is 35 minutes as somebody going to Yola or Kano, that is over one hour. That is not realistic.”
Odika called on the operators to sit down and look at each route with the alliance formed, to adjust their fares accordingly. Adding that some people will be happier like those on the long haul such as Yola and Kano, but not on the short flight.
He applauded the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), for being able to reduce the presence of touts at the nation’s airport terminals.
“The touts were constituting nuisance at the airport. They were an embarrassment to the country’s aviation industry. I commend FAAN for eliminating touting at the airports”, Odika said.
Odika, however, berated FAAN for constructing the new Chinese financed international terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (FAAN), without considering space for apron and wingspan of wide-bodied aircraft.
“The new terminal cannot take more than two wide-bodied aircraft at a time at the apron. That will make it less attractive to foreign airlines. It will consequently reduce the commercial value of the terminal especially at peak periods of airline operations.
“To remedy this, the federal government has to demolish existing structures around the terminal to increase apron space.”
He also advised that the present hangars around the new terminal be moved to Gate 5, which he said has easy access.
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