Demuren makes case for domestic clearing house for Nigerian airlines tribuneonlineng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneonlineng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Chinedu Eze
Airlines have attributed the skyrocketing airfares, which have elicited disaffection from travellers to the scarcity of dollars and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airlines, in separate interviews with THISDAY warned travellers to brace for a higher fare regime as economic indicators show that the problems are not likely to abate soon.
From N28, 000 for a one-hour flight after the high season in December 2020, the average cost of a one-hour ticket has now risen to N60, 000 for a one-way ticket and could rise as high as N120, 000 if a passenger buys a ticket on the day he is travelling.
Bayelsa begins Yenagoa airport’s operations with Ibom’s 50-seater aircraft
Published 10 May 2021
The Bayelsa State Government will use a 50-seater aircraft belonging to Ibom Air to start commercial flight operations at the Bayelsa International Airport.
This followed the opening of partnership negotiation between Bayelsa and the Akwa State government, owners of Ibom Air.
The partnership was struck on Saturday when a delegation from Bayelsa led by the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, met in Uyo with their counterparts from Akwa Ibom State.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority had on April 17 granted Bayelsa International Airport the approval to commence commercial flight operations.
For government establishment, from directorship level, you have first class and the rest is economy. And that was how the airline was run. It wasn’t meant for profit making. So, how do you survive?
Also, the presidency didn’t have an aircraft designated to it. Whenever the presidency had a function, they will just pull out an aircraft immediately either for local or international operations. There was a time the scheduled flights of the airline will just be disrupted midway. That was how even the government contributed to the death of the airline.
Now, how did staff and management contribute to its death? It is corruption; everybody was helping himself with the airline. First, everyone was employed based on the quota system. You will begin to get it wrong when you apply the quota system in aviation.
Ibom Air airplane
The Bayelsa government at the weekend opened partnership discussions with its Akwa Ibom counterpart on the use of Ibom Air to start commercial flight operations at the Bayelsa International Airport.
Speaking as the leader of a high-powered delegation from Bayelsa at a meeting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, the Deputy Governor, Sen. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said that the choice of Ibom Air was informed by proximity and the good bilateral relations between the two sister states.
Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, on Sunday explained that Akwa Ibom has proved itself as a dependable neighbour to Bayelsa in so many ways over the years, which must be reciprocated “in the spirit of give-and-take”.