Chinedu Eze identifies reasons why aviation ground handling companies record poor returns in Nigeria despite huge investment and how regulatory authority and synergy can reposition the sub-sector in order to ensure that safety is not compromised.
Despite the critical role they play in the aviation industry, aviation ground handling companies over the years may have been consigned to the short end of the stick by factors ranging from poor regulation of the sub-sector, cutthroat competition and unwillingness of local and foreign airlines to pay the right price for their services.
The handling companiesâ mode of operation has subjected them to the dictates of the airlines that seem to under appreciate the critical role they play in rewarding the services rendered to them. Yet, the ground handling companies are responsible for loading and unloading freight and baggage, monitoring the safety of passengers, sorting freight and baggage, service the interiors of the aircraft, wash ext
One airline said it was appalling when it was asked to pay $10,000 per landing in a West African country; a charge which would have made it practically impossible to break even on the route if costs of other of operations were added.
Operators in the ground handling sub-sector of the aviation industry say the handling rates in existence in Nigeria remain the lowest in the whole of Africa and the entire aviation world.
The ground handling firms with the responsibility for providing ground support services to airlines before take-off and after landing are critical to aviation safety.
Findings by Daily Trust indicate that the last time the handling rates were reviewed in Nigeria was 35 years ago when the exchange rate of the dollar was virtually at par with the Nigerian naira. This, the operators say is not healthy for the industry as it raises safety and economic concerns in addition to denying the federal government through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) billions
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