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Towards a Viable Aviation Industry
In recent times, the aviation industry in Nigeria has had two welcome developments: the news of the return of the Emirates Airline, which left in 2022 due to blocked funds and the beginning of the cheaper Lagos to London ticket by Air Peace, a local carrier.
In Nigeria’s aviation sector, as in other climes, international airline operations have much potential to enable economic growth.
Industry insights from IATA show that travel by air in and out of Nigeria for trade and tourism has created over 241,000 jobs and generated $1.7 billion in Gross Value Added to the GDP, which makes up 0.4% of the GDP.
According to IATA, air transport “provides speedy connections between cities. These virtual bridges in the air enable the economic flow of goods, investments, people, and ideas that are the fundamental drivers of economic growth.”
The value added to the economy by the people moving to and from Nigeria can be seen in their spending and trade investments upon arrival and/or departure from the country.
African countries are Nigeria’s largest market for to-and-fro air transport for 2019 (73.3 %). It is followed by Europe (10.7 %), while Nigeria’s connection to the Middle East (6.7 %) has grown significantly in the last couple of years.
The movement of people to and from Nigeria to the Middle East increased by 20 per cent while the movement to America reduced by 50 per cent and Europe reduced by 21 per cent, reports IATA
According to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, the country has 20 airports plied by 23 active domestic airlines and 22 foreign airlines.
Despite this industry’s potential, it is still plagued with challenges that impede the ease of doing business within the industry.
In an interview with Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, on Arise News, there are barriers to ease of doing business in the aviation sector, such as financial instability, political interference, infrastructural deficiencies, regulatory obstacles, and high operational costs.
In the World Economic Forum Index for travel and Tourism, Nigeria scored 2.07 out of 10 and ranked 126th out of 136 countries for Ground and Port Infrastructure.
For Air Transport Infrastructure, it ranked 108 out of 136 and scored 2.01 out of 10.