United Nigeria laments operational woes, seeks government’s intervention

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

Osita Okonkwo, the chief operating officer of United Nigeria Airline (UNA), has, again, bemoaned challenges facing and stunting domestic airlines growth, calling for urgent government intervention.

Speaking during a press conference to mark the airline’s third anniversary in Lagos, he listed jet fuel scarcity, forex scarcity, decrepit airport infrastructure, among others as those that currently pose danger to airline operations in the country.

While calling for immediate government intervention, Okonkwo said the price of aviation fuel, a major component of airlines’ operational items, has risen by over 200 percent in the last three years of UNA operations, adding that if there is no urgent intervention by government, the sector may collapse.

“This journey has not been without difficulties, operational difficulties. When we started February 2021, Jet-Ai was N300 per litre but it is now N1,300, forex was about N300 but this morning, it is about N1,700, these are ingredients for disaster, it’s just by miracle that we [are] still surviving. When you look at the issue of forex availability and the cost, for us to get critical spare parts, we have to spend a lot of time and money to be able to access them.

“The issue of infrastructure inadequacy at all airports, no one is excluded. MMA2 has some advantages but the space is so restrictive that it is so chaotic in the morning when there are so many flights leaving; it requires further expansion for better efficiency. We have flights being delayed for 30 minutes to one hour and once you do that, it cascades into other flights and the delays continue.

“Of course, we also talk about the facilities at other airports, ILS, and airlifted lighting are basically non-existent in some airports. We have sunset airport issues, we have been caught up in that, for many flights, we have to divert.

“The other thing is that let’s focus on the service providers who must be efficient for flights to land and depart on time. We have had situations where we land and the bowser is not serviceable. You wait for 15 minutes, one hour, it is not serviceable. You will  now decide to do a test up to another airport, that is a huge cost in terms of money and time. In some airports, there is only one provider,  there are occasions where you have full load, for our type of aircraft of 50 passengers, if you drop five passengers you have a list for five days. When you get a call that the bowser is not working, the passengers don’t understand, how do you explain this? They have their own plans, so safety remains a major consideration which is at the back of everything we do. These are difficulties that impede efficiency of our operations,” he said.

Okonkwo, who appreciated customers and staff for being loyal to the airline in the last three years, also disclosed that the airline now has about 500 Nigerians in its employ while it offers over 1,000 indirect employment.

He announced a 10 percent discount on the first 300 tickets for customers as a way of showing appreciation.

Speaking on the ‘Spring Alliance’ formed by some airlines last year, he said  it had been helpful in offering passengers seamless connections.

According to him, “We have been bailed out at various times by our partner airlines, you know we started the spring alliance, it has been helpful in making sure that passengers enjoy seamless connection. And some of the airlines have been helpful.”

The airline is looking back on a tremendous three years, having started operations on February 12, 2021, when the country was just getting out of the Covid situation, which have seen it achieved some milestones such as getting the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit programme, an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.

UNA also became a member of IATA, making it a prominent player in Nigeria’s domestic aviation market.