Air Peace Inaugural London Flight and Challenges Ahead  

Many Nigerians were elated last week when Air Peace successfully operated its inaugural flight to London. Although UK is Nigeria’s second home, Nigerian carriers have not successfully operated the route on long term basis, writes Chinedu Eze

The excitement is still thick in the air about Air Peace’s successful inaugural flight with full capacity of about 260 passengers.

Nigerians are excited for many reasons, but majorly because the route is dominated by two British carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways, which charge outrageous and exploitative fares on the Nigerian route.

With a Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, travellers on the route will now have a fair deal in terms of prices. With the entrant of the Nigerian airline, the two British carriers have already lowered their fares to brace up for competition. The second reason is that the Nigerian flag should be regularly seen in major UK airports. So, it is a thing of pride for Nigerians to see an aircraft registered in Nigeria and with Nigerian crew operating to London.

Rip-off Fares

Over the years, Nigerians have become miffed with the rip-off fares charged travellers on the route. To make this clearer, what foreign airlines charge on the Lagos-London flight is more than double what they charge on Accra-London route. Many industry observers posit that it is due to demand and supply principles; that Nigerians like to travel and they always fill the aircraft cabin from the front to the end.

The high fares are not limited to Lagos-London route but to all the destinations in Europe: Paris, Amsterdam and others, which are average of six hours from Nigeria. The high fares also extend to all other routes in different parts of the world from Nigeria. In a recent interview, the Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Dr. Allen Onyema said six hours flight from Lagos to London costs more than nine hours flight from Johannesburg to London. So, the major benefit of having a Nigerian carrier operate to London is that it will tame the fares.

Air Peace has made history with its flight to London; but has also awakened anxiety in the minds of industry insiders. Will the airline operate briefly and stop like its predecessors or will it go the long haul? In the past, Nigerian airlines operating the route had been stopped in their strides by circumstances they could not overcome. Insiders attributed this to the shortcomings of the airlines and aeropolitics.

From industry responses to investigation by THISDAY, it is obvious that the airlines, which have literally been making a kill on the route would not want a competitor because a competitor would curb their earnings from the route, recognised as the most profitable route per passenger among the European carriers. So, they would use all the tactics at their behest to stop any Nigerian airline operating the route in order to enjoy their monopoly of the destination.

Aviation Authorities

THISDAY learnt that aviation authorities at the UK airports are frequently used to frustrate Nigerian carriers, from their being niggardly with slots, which most often they would say is not available or they would sell it at high prices through third party or they would issue staccato schedule to an airline to create uncertainty in the passengers who would be confused about their favourite airline’s flight schedule. That was one of the things Air Peace contested against. The authorities usually deny the airlines the airport of choice as they did to Medview and Air Peace, which they gave Gatwick instead of Heathrow.

There are other antagonistic tactics like using security to delay flights by wasting time screening passengers luggage, penalizing airline for late flights and scrutinising the profiles of operating aircraft, the crew and checking technical details, which they use to delay the flights. The undue strictness would eventually get to the airline and either it would spend so much paying penalties for late departures or any other alleged infractions, or it is paying too much for slot or the passengers become frustrated because of induced delays or any other factor.

With time the airline would realise that it is not making profit of the route and decide to back out. That was what happened to Arik Air London- Abuja flight. They couldn’t sustain the route because of the losses due to cost of slot and indifference of the Nigerian government. But it is good to note that Arik Air successfully operated Lagos-London route for over nine years until it was stopped by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) that took over the airline in receivership. Stopping the airline from the London route was one of the not well thought-out, knee-jack decisions of the government agency.

The Managing Director of Flight and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, commended Onyema for being able to pull through despite all the challenges and threw light on what could be expected on the Lagos-London route.

“I congratulate Dr. Allen Onyema and the Air Peace team because they have shut the mouth of negative commentators and pessimists. This is a case of result terminates insult. They kept working towards their desired result until they achieved it in spite of the obstacles. They have made the statement that, ‘we can’, to existing and intending Nigerian operators. ‘BA and Virgin’ will use whatever they have to make sure Air Peace does not take over their share of the market in the route. This is expected. What arsenal they deploy is left for the regulators in both countries to ensure all parties act within acceptable norms.

“It must be mentioned that countries have their template for the strategies they deploy in this kind of fight. Which agencies and groups they use are properly briefed and they know the steps to take when the war to capture, to retain, and to protect the market starts. They don’t mention the tools like airport authority, handling companies, aeronautical services providers; each knows what role to play while remaining professional in their approach. My adviceto Air Peace and the Nigerian aviation agencies is to avoid making public comments about the strategies and tools deployed to execute the ‘war’. Just act according to your script in response to what is happening in the field.

“The airports in UAE and UK knew what to do to frustrate Air Peace, they didn’t make it look like their national agenda, they did not wait for their Ministers to announce it as policy.Air Peace knows what to do in this scenario. They have maintained integrity, sincerity of purpose, and displayed proof of capacity. They have tried not to give the host country’s authority reason to reject their participation in the route. This has worked in so far. The point that cannot be overemphasized is the need for Nigerians to fly Air Peace or any Nigerian airline on the route they are travelling,” Akpan said.

Minister’s Assurance

What is unique about Air Peace operation to UK is the visible support being given the airline by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo and the federal government. Keyamo has promised that the President Tinubu’s administration would ensure that Nigerian airlines operating international destinations are protected. He regretted that over the years, Nigerian carriers have been denied the opportunity to utilise the Bilaterial Air Service Agreement (BASA) and reciprocate the flight operation of some airlines from different countries to Nigeria because of aeropolitics in which aviation authorities of these countries use to deny Nigerian carriers the opportunity to fly to some of those country whose airlines fly to Nigeria.

Capacity

In a recent interview with Onyema, he said Air Peace had everything needed to successfully operate the route and extend service to other international destinations.

THISDAY also gathered from the airline that it is going to have about 63 aircraft in the nearest future after taking delivery of the aircraft it ordered from Embraer, Boeing, Airbus and acquisition of additional two Boeing 777 aircraft. Currently the airline has one Dornier Jet,  eight Embraer ERJ 145, 12 Boeing 737, three Boeing 777, 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 10 on order; 13 Embraer 195-E2 (on order with Purchase Rights for 17 more); five of these aircraft brand have been received from Air Peace and they have been operating since 2022. The airline also ordered five Embraer 175; 10 Airbus A320 and two Boeing 777.

Onyema who commended what the federal government is doing for the airline also spoke about the technicalities employed to edge out competitors on the Lagos-London route.

“I thank the President and his team. We are being supported. Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation went with us to the UK when they were almost frustrating us with slot. He warned them that if they don’t allow Air Peace to operate, they will retaliate and this helped. Today he is here. They have given us that support. All we need is massive government support to sustain their new route. We have the Minister of Aviation travelling on this flight, we have Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on this flight. Nigerian government officials are on this flight. This is a Nigerian project. This is what I have been clamouring for. Nigerian government and people have shown that this is a Nigerian project. Air Peace does not belong to Allen Onyema but it belongs to over 220 million Nigerians who are here and abroad. This flight is sold out because we charging the right fares. In what we are doing, we must not fall short of giving the right services. We must not fall short of brining the right equipment. Like I have always said, Air Peace is not new on international arena. 

“Air Peace flies to China every Wednesday for 14 hours going and 14 hours coming, no issues. Air Peace flies to India every week; 12 hours going, 13 hours coming back, no issues. Air Peace undertakes 160 hours of flying within this country every day for the past seven years. What is six hours flight? This is a daily flight,” Onyema said in the interview.

He said because of the high cost of direct flights to London from Nigeria, Nigerians have to utilise the services of other airlines that charge relatively lower fares and connect to London.

“This is direct flight to London. Remember Nigerians were flying up to South Africa to get to London. Nigerians were flying to Qatar to get to London and spend up to 20 hours connecting flight. But today a Nigerian airline is doing this and it is our prayer that other Nigerian airlines should join the fray. The sky is too big for all of us. Whoever is ready should come and we will do it for the nation. It is all about the country. Today we have a full flight on the Boeing 777. We will be serving Nigerian food and even intercontinental dishes. After London, we are looking at New York,” Onyema further said.

Many Nigerians hope that Air Peace will make the success of the Lagos-London route and also continue to provide good in-flight service it has started and improve on it. Nigeria ought to benefit from the fact that its citizens remain the highest indigenous travellers on the African continent and when more Nigerian airlines are on the international services there will be more jobs for Nigerians and the sector will contribute more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).