According to them, despite the attrition rate in the aviation sector because of teething problems, airliners in Nigeria are making brisk business in the last few years as they witness heavy traffic of customers.
Apart from people who have the means that always travel by air, middle-income earners are increasingly avoiding road travel because of insecurity.
In the North, for instance, they specifically cited the challenges of travelling from Abuja to Kaduna, Kano, Gusau, Kebbi and Sokoto in the North-West; and Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Yola and Jalingo in the North-East.
Our correspondents report that Boko Haram fighters, bandits and kidnappers have killed many people on the highway while hundreds of passengers lost their lives through road accidents and sectarian crises.
The Federal Government’s ban on over 22-year-old aircraft from operating in Nigeria is outdated and premature.
This was disclosed by Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, Chairman, West Link Airlines, and owner of Mish Aviation, the foremost privately-owned aviation training school located in Ghana, in an interview.
He explained that the airworthiness of an aircraft should not be based on age, but on whether it meets the certification requirements for Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A).
He said, “
It’s not scientifically correct to restrict importation on age and we have said this times without number. Today a professional colleague is a minister; we hope these are some of the things he will reverse before he leaves. The initial 22 years ban were best left as politically motivated for reasons that no longer exist, so why is it still there?