September 27, (THEWILL) – West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, Air Peace, has rejected the offer to fly from London Stansted or Gatwick Airports, insisting that it is either Heathrow Airport (LHR) or nothing.
Air Peace made the rejection following the recent approval by the UK Authorities for Air Peace to fly to the UK with proposed flight operations from either London Stansted (STN) or London Gatwick (LGW).
There are four major airports in the UK – Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, London City Airport, and Stansted Airport.
LHR slots are highly valuable due to its status as one of the busiest aviation hubs globally, offering extensive connectivity and elevating an airline’s presence.
Giving reasons for the choice to decline the offer, Onyema was quoted as stating on his X handle: “It took seven years for them to come and do the audit. Now we have got the approval. The next thing is slots, and they are telling us to go to London Stansted or take London Gatwick. I’m not going to Stansted or Gatwick. You come to the primary airport in Nigeria, and by BASA, you enjoy the two primary airports. So, you will give me your own primary airport. It must be Heathrow or nothing.”
This is not the first instance of Nigeria and the UK having a disagreement regarding LHR slots. The same scenario played out when Arik Air made attempts to utilise the Abuja-London route between 2019 to 2011.
Stakeholders have already condemned a situation whereby the UK Government and aviation authorities, through clever bureaucratic manoeuvring, ensured that the National fliers would enjoy the monopoly of the highly lucrative Nigeria to UK route.
However, they are optimistic that, with the appointment of the new Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the government should really be doing more to protect such companies from such aeropolitics and other strong-arm techniques.
Already, the new Minister had pledged total support for the promotion and sustenance of the domestic airlines in the country, as one of its 5-point agenda.
Recall that Air Peace initially had slot issues when it wanted to operate into the UAE. The fast-growing airline was initially granted scheduled operations in the country via Sharjah Airport and later started three weekly direct flights into the city of Dubai.
Reacting to the slot system and the proposal for Air Peace to operate at a particular airport, The General Manager, Public Affairs of the defunct Nigeria Airways, Chris Aligbe, told THEWILL on Wednesday, that the whole issue has to do with congestion at Heathrow Airport.
Aligbe, who is also the CEO of Belujane Konsult, said that LHR is the most coveted airport slot in the UK, and indeed among the most sought-after globally. He, therefore, said that getting slots easily is difficult except in cases where the operators buy them as the number of new slots available is very limited.
Moreso, Aligbe pointed out that these airports in the UK have already been privatised and therefore, are not government-operated airports. He, however, stated that the case of the UK is different from the issues Air Peace earlier had with UAE when they wanted to operate in the region.
To the Secretary General of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals, Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu, restricting Air Peace to Gatwick and Stansted is an unfair treatment.
Comrade Saidu, however, suggested that Nigeria should treat their airline in “a tit for tat” manner and stop allowing them to fly to Abuja, Lagos and other lucrative routes.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government had, in 2021, promised to introduce a slot system to regulate the operation of foreign airlines into Nigeria.
Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu, disclosed the plan amid the lingering diplomatic rift between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He said the slot system would eliminate “unfair commercial advantage” in the implementation of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with other countries.
Nuhu said the new system, which he described as “tit for tat”, has become imperative because some countries were deploying the slot allocation systems at their airports as a ploy to undermine Nigerian carriers.
As it stands, Nigeria is a signatory to over 90 Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA), most unfairly skewed against Nigerian airlines, including the open skies treaty known as the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). BASAs entered into without adequate consideration of their impact on aviation in Nigeria.
Over 25 foreign airlines operate flights into Nigeria. Sadly, only one Nigerian airline operates internationally, which is Air Peace.
The fast-growing airline currently flies to China, India, South Africa and Israel. It has also started Jeddah and Madina with a very high capacity.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
