By Dickson Omobola

Indications have emerged revealing that there is disquiet among local airline operators over the number of daily flights, otherwise known as frequencies, foreign airlines make in and out of the country.

Many fear the situation poses great harm to the operators of local airlines who could be pushed out of business, if the situation was not redressed by the federal government.

Their worries, which stemmed from what they viewed as a strange aviation practice, have made them describe the existing condition as unfavourable to local operators’ ease of doing business.

Experts, who also called for a revision in whatever agreement that gave international airlines the freedom to operate in the country as they desired, said the industry might crumble in the next five to 10 years if the practice doesn’t change.

The stakeholders, in a chat with Vanguard, expressed concerns, saying the permission granted international airlines to operate at their free will was ruining the domestic market.

Deprivation

Spokesperson  of Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, said: “Let it be known that any single passenger picked as a result of multiple destinations is a passenger deprived of a particular domestic carrier. So, it doesn’t help the industry.

“Those countries that understand aeropolitics and support their domestic carriers do everything to discourage that. As liberal as America is, unless it is for fuelling, one is not allowed to land in any American state. Whether commercial flight or private jet, neither will be allowed to hop and continue.

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“If you go to America with your private jet, you have to stop at one destination. If you have to go further on a private trip, you need to charter it from locals. That is the way it works. By doing that, they are supporting their local operators who generate income, pay taxes and support the local economy.

BASA.

“These funds that are paid to foreign carriers on domestic routes as a result of multiple destinations are all part of the funds international carriers exchange into forex and send back to their countries.