Foremost management consulting firm, Phillips Consulting has advocated for the establishment of a single air transport market for African countries as a necessary step towards the attainment of the desired objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA).
Similarly, the organization is of the opinion that achieving a liberalized aviation industry across the continent would go a long way in galvanizing the growth and development of African economies.
Articulating the views of the organization, especially on matters relating to aviation industry management in Nigeria and Africa was the Head of Intelligence Unit, Phillips Consulting, Mr Victor Mba while speaking recently during an online interactive media program monitored in Lagos.
According to the organization’s intelligence boss, everywhere in the world, an efficient transport system was a pre-requisite for economic development and to that extent, he observed that operating a ‘free sky’ and liberalizing the aviation industry in Africa would serve as a very good enabler to the growth of the African space in terms of economic activities.
“Definitely, the single African Air Transport market is an enabler to the African continental Free Trade Agreement. Everywhere in the world an efficient transport system is pre requisite for economic development”
“One of the aims of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement is actually to boost economic activities in the African region. So if we have open skies and we are able to liberalize the aviation industry in Africa, it’s serves as a very good enabler to the growth of the African space in terms of the economic activities”
Giving a detailed highlight on recent assessment survey conducted by the management outfit on Nigeria’s aviation Industry prior to resumption of domestic airline operations in the country, Mba noted that the recent guidelines set out by the industry regulators, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were targeted at guaranteeing flight safety, adding that the set guidelines are capable of boosting consumer’s confidence on air travels across the country.
According to him, part of the organizations major findings emanating from the survey included the fact that a lot of customers were quite comfortable with the NCAA directives. It noted however that customers would cut down their travel significantly to about 66% while limiting their travels to just health and business related issues..
The survey revealed further that beyond the fear of contracting the corona virus, a lot of customers were also skeptical about flying considering that aircrafts had been parked for long and to that effect only about 11% of customers would engage on immediate travel.
He added that while a number of customers would never consider travelling until a cure was found for the pandemic, about 28 % of customers would travel only weeks after all operations have commenced just to be sure that they are safe from the pandemic and that the airlines were in good condition to fly.
