Why Nigeria’s aviation risks losing $0.65bn, 91,380 jobs to COVI-19

Due to the widespread of the coronavirus pandemic, a whopping  91,380 jobs s and $0.65billion in contribution to Nigeria’s economy may be recorded by the aviation industry, a recent report by International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed.

This is as even the report projected that no fewer than 3.5 million passengers would be lost, as the aviation industry is in serious financial danger over the recent pandemic ravaging the world.

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The body, however, charged governments in Nigeria, Africa and the Middle East to provide financially relief to airlines, stressing that carriers on the continent and the Middle East may lose up to S$23billion; $19billion in the Middle East and $4billion in Africa.

According to IATA, this translates into a drop in industry reve­nues of 32 per cent for Africa and 39 per cent for the Middle East for 2020 as compared to 2019 figures.

IATA in its statistics said that South Africa would lose about 10.7 million fewer passengers resulting in a $2.29bn revenue loss, risking 186,850 jobs and $3.8bn in contribution to its economy.

For Ethiopia, no fewer than 1.6 million fewer passengers would be lost, resulting in a $0.3bn rev­enue loss, risking 327,062 jobs and $1.2bn in contribution to Ethio­pia’s economy.

In Kenya, it was predicted that the East African country would experience 2.5 million fewer pas­sengers, resulting in a $ 0.54 bil­lion revenue loss, risking 137,965 jobs and $1.1bn in contribution to its economy.

In Egypt, it estimated that no fewer than 9.5 million passen­gers would be lost, resulting in a $1.6billion the revenue loss, risking almost 205,560 jobs and around US$2.4bn in contribution to the Egyptian economy.

 “The air transport industry is an economic engine, support­ing up to 8.6 million jobs across Africa and the Middle East and $186bn in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Every job created in the aviation industry supports anoth­er 24 jobs in the wider economy. Governments must recognise the vital importance of the air trans­port industry, and that support is urgently needed.

“Airlines are fighting for sur­vival in every corner of the world. Travel restrictions and evaporat­ing demand mean that, aside from cargo, there is almost no passen­ger business. Failure by govern­ments to act now will make this crisis longer and more painful.

“Airlines have demonstrated their value in economic and so­cial development in Africa and the Middle East and governments need to prioritise them in rescue packages. Healthy airlines will be essential to jump-start the Middle East and global economies post-cri­sis,” said Muhammad Al Bakri, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.

According to her, statistics showed that Air France had evac­uated 399 French and European nationals, Lufthansa; 238, Air Peace crew); six, Middle East Airline (MEA); 140, Ethiopian Airlines; 148, 137 (Canadians), 375 (U.S), Jed Air; nine (Liberians and crew), Air Peace; 87 and Delta with 200 Americans.

 She decried that the revenue generations of FAAN had been impacted in the past weeks, stressing that on the average, the terminal handles 23-28 flights de­lay but had been dropped drasti­cally to just 10 flights in 10 days.

She said: “It has impacted on everything we do. Aircraft are not flying and when they are not flying, how will FAAN generate revenues for its operations? It is definitely a serious blow on our operations. In about 10 days, we had only 10 flights, whereas, on the average, we have between 23 and 28 flights daily. So, you can imagine the charges for landing and parking, passenger service charge and fueling and others on the aeronautical. All those ones have stopped.

“Then, you have the retailers, our concessionaires that have shops, offices within the airport. Paying rent for this period is go­ing to be an issue. Then, our con­cession fee is going to be an issue. As you can see, all the shops and offices are closed.

“We just pray that the crisis won’t extend beyond this. It has really impacted our revenues. That is all we do. If the airlines are not flying, we can’t make mon­ey because all the other activities are dependent on the aeronauti­cal revenues. Since the aircraft is not flying, people are not parking vehicles, people are not coming to the airport, and people are not selling and buying.”

He decried that the airlines, which were struggling to remain in the air over the years as a re­sult of “cut-throat” government policy had further suffered loss­es, which may dim their chanc­es of operating profitably in the nearest future.