By Dickson Omobola
Acting Managing Director of Ibom Air, Mr George Uriesi, has expressed dismay over the decline in domestic passenger traffic, saying compared to 2024, there has been a 27 per cent decrease.
Uriesi, however, said efforts must be made to ensure that those seeking alternative means of travel resort to air travel.
He spoke in Lagos during the Airport Business Summit and Expo, ABSE, organised by the Nigerian Aviation, NIGAV, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos.
He also said airports must work with airlines to survive, noting that in the aviation ecosystem, the driver was the airline.
He said: “We are down by 27 per cent from 2024. We are in trouble, we have to find a way to get people flying again. Nobody will earn kobo if airlines do not fly. Everybody talks about money because airlines are flying.”
Industry stakeholders, who spoke to Vanguard, had linked rising airfares, poor living standards and a dearth of disposable income as some factors leading to the drop.
Recently, Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt Ado Sanusi, told Vanguard that Nigeria’s economic conditions played a vital role in the citizenry’s desire for air travel.
Sanusi clarified that if the economic condition of the country was vibrant, people would like to quickly travel to places to connect for businesses.
Sanusi also linked the decline to inactivity in tourism, saying due to the Naira to dollar fluctuation and the high cost of living, travellers were shunning air transport.
He said: “Also, the emerging middle class is dwindling. For the average Nigerian, the power to purchase an air ticket is becoming difficult. So, when passengers want to travel from Lagos to Kano or Lagos to Calabar, they have to think twice.”
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