Experts in the air travel and allied ecosystem have called on the Federal Government to expedite action in developing airport hubs to drive profitability for indigenous flag carriers.
Flight operations from airport hubs ease the movement of passengers who are transiting from flights within the country into either regional or intercontinental routes.
The development of airport hubs , experts say continue to gain global traction as such facilities assist airlines to grow, compete favourably and consolidate footprints in existing and frontier markets.
London, Paris, Frankfurt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, New York, Washington, New Delhi are some airports are associated with global carriers as hub airports.
In Africa, Cairo, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lome, Kigali, Casablanca, Accra and Dakar are also hubs associated with some carriers on the continent.
But, Nigeria with its over 200 million people , is yet to develop an effective airport hub.
Speaking in separate interviews: Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konsult Limited, Mr Chris Aligbe, Acting Managing Director of Ibom Air, Mr George Uriesi and Chairman / Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, say developing an airport hub in Nigeria has becoming compelling.
They said unless and until the Nigerian government puts the development of airport hubs in its strategic air transport agenda, indigenous carriers may not optimize the expected gains from the aviation sector.
Their agitation for speeding up the hub pursuit, aligns with the Federal Government’s determination to overhaul facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Investigations revealed that for an airport terminal to qualify for hub status , it should enhance customer experience, provide quality services push for comfortable facilities and efficient operations to attract passengers.
Checks also revealed efforts by some State Governments: Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Cross River to develop airport hubs to drive sustainability for their airlines.
Offering his perspective on the development, Aligbe said :” I think that if we don’t buoy up our airlines, we will not get to where we are going to. No foreign airline can build a hub in your country. I studied about 25-35 hubs. Those hubs are built by the airlines of their country.
“But without formidable airlines, we will never get a hub in this country.”
On his part, Onyema observed that while current efforts by the federal government to build transit facility at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, is commendable, it is , however , critical in developing a hub at the airport.
Onyema said Nigerian carriers could not compete with their foreign counterparts in operating international destinations because they do not have transit terminal where passengers can transit from arrival to departure without passing through immigration.
” You need the airport infrastructure to be able to have a hub. If you, like, have 200 aircraft, you cannot have a hub except the airport infrastructure supports it.”
Onyema expressed hope that when the transit terminal is built with the transformation and expansion of infrastructural project at the Lagos airport, Nigerian carriers will have new incentives to become more competitive and also have more opportunities to effectively operate sub-regional networks in Central and West Africa, connecting passengers from Africa to farther destinations.
On his part, Uriesi said the government can develop hub airport built around one or two major carriers.
According to him, if the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, for example, is made a hub airport, all arriving passengers will connect to all other airports from Lagos.
He said :” So, if the hub strategy is developed in Nigeria, Lagos may become the hub and passengers will be distributed from there, but it will need a major local carrier or two major carriers to distribute passengers from the hub airport.
“First, to develop a hub airport, you must have a strong, home-base carrier in support of whose strategy the airport makes the investments. It’s a symbiotic business relationship. A hub airport is an airport where a significant number of its passenger traffic is transferring from one flight to another and not originating or terminating there. It’s a very different business model from that of an origin and destination airport which is what Nigeria currently has.
“In order to begin to develop our airports for transfer traffic, a lot has to be done in synergy between the airports and their home base carriers. One thing is the development of the right supporting infrastructure. But a key enabling element is the fact that a whole new orientation would be required for this from all the players because the decision a passenger takes to fly an airline includes the perception of the airport experience at its hub where you transfer.”
Read more on Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics
