Let Colonial Servitude End In Aviation Industry

The recent feud between Nigeria’s largest airline, Arik Air, and the British Government over the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, has further exposed the contempt British authorities have for Nigeria.

The agreement, signed years ago, regulates commercial air transportation between both countries. Under that agreement, Britain and Nigeria agreed that each country would give each other 21 weekly frequencies for their commercial airlines.

This means that British commercial planes would be allowed into Nigeria 21 times a week to make money while Nigerian commercial aircraft would be accorded equal treatment in Britain.

But that was only on paper. In reality, while Nigeria has allowed British airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, free access into the country, the British authorities have added some bottlenecks that were not part of the agreement, thus sending Nigerian airlines out of business on London routes.

In some cases, the British authorities would grant Nigerian planes access to their airspace with no permission to land.

As a result, Arik Air has been forced to suspend its Abuja-London flights. The British Government did this by denying Arik slots to land at Heathrow airport.

The United Kingdom’s Director of Transport informed the airline that it would have to negotiate with airport managers to be able to land in England.

British Airways operates Lagos and Abuja seven times a week and Virgin Atlantic operate Lagos seven times a week as well. The two airlines do so without hindrance.

To find a way around these bottlenecks imposed by the British Government, Arik Air had to rent landing slots from British Midland International at £1.4 million between 2009 and last year.

The airline paid £52,250 every month to land. In the end, British Midland International informed Arik Air that the monthly slot would increase from £52,250 to £90,000. As a result, Arik Air, which is the only Nigerian airline flying into Britain, canceled its Abuja-London service as it could not cope with the skyrocketing landing fees.

Reacting to the cancellation, the Minister of Aviation princess Oduah simply said recently that she had observed with dismay the inequitable treatment meted out to Arik Air in denying its fleet access to Heathrow airport from Abuja. We believe that the Minister’s reaction is feeble as it is not far reaching enough.

The Nigerian Government must protect the interest of Nigerian airlines that wish to do business in the United Kingdom. The British authorities must be compelled to respect the agreement or their airlines made to suffer for it in Nigeria.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic make so much money from Nigeria that their government will rather respect the agreement than to have them forced out of business in Nigeria.

Nigeria must encourage its airlines that wish to do business in Britain and other parts of the world. British Airways is already notorious for its maltreatment of Nigerians who fly the airline. It is in Nigeria’s interest to have its own airlines fly to Britain.

We believe 51 years after hard fought independence from Britain, the colonial servitude must stop. The government must treat our people with dignity and stand up on the side of the people whenever and wherever they are denigrated.