An aviation consultant, Taiwo Adenekan, has urged the Federal Government to auction the over 120 Bilateral Air services Agreement (BASA) which the country have entered into with various countries and are not being utilized.

He said doing so will enable any airline from anywhere in the world to bid for the various routes the country have that are not been serviced because the country has no local airlines flying most of these routes.

Adenekan noted that the bidding could be in the form of what happened in the telecommunication sector as the money that will be generated can be used to set up a national carrier for the country, build an hanger as well as a standard flying school in the country.

The aviation consultant explained that the country entered many agreements but regretted that it is not benefitting   because it lacks the capacity and equipment to benefit. “We need to do more frequencies and doing so we need more airlines to do that.”

Under bilateral agreements, the carriers which may be designated by governments are generally restricted to those whose ownership and control is in the hands of their nationals.

He  disclosed  that  one of the Middle East airlines, Emirates, does  more than seven points  beyond Dubai  and a Nigerian  airline flying there could not compete favorably and  was forced out of the route.

Adenekan added that the commercial agreements outside the BASA which allows some foreign airlines to pay certain amount to the government when they fly more than the allowed   slots are also faulty.

He said since we are not utilizing our own slots of the BASA, the foreign airlines are making use of theirs and even the extra slots are ripping the country and “so doing capital flight.”