By Dickson Omobola
Chief Commercial Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, Mr Adedayo Olawuyi, has fingered the dominance of foreign carriers in Nigeria’s aviation market to the weakness of domestic airlines, saying the country lacks strong local and regional operators capable of competing effectively.
Olawuyi said airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Asky Airlines continue to dominate the Nigerian market because they built extensive networks that enable passengers from Nigeria to connect to multiple destinations.
He spoke during a courtesy visit to the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC, in Lagos recently, saying Nigerian carriers need to expand regional operations and offer direct services to destinations across West Africa to be able to compete.
He said: “The challenge we have in Nigerian aviation space today, where we are dominated by foreign carriers, is because of a lack of strength of the domestic carriers. What do I mean? There are the likes of Emirates, and a lot of people don’t go to Dubai, but they connect to other destinations. For Qatar, how many people go to Doha? Ethiopia has 35 to 40 flights a week into the country. For Asky, who goes to Lome? The point I am making is we have seen a dominance of foreign carriers because we do not have strong domestic and regional operators.”
