Emmanuel Thomas l Wednesday, March 22, 2017
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Firstnation airline has explained why it decided to withdraw service from Kaduna as a result of ongoing repairs of the runway at the Abuja International Airport.
In a statement, signed by Rasheed Yusuf, the airline said it is totally in support of ongoing NAIA- Abuja airport runway repair and commend the Federal Government’s efforts at addressing infrastructure decay. The airline said it remains in service and that it pulled out its schedule from Kaduna for profit reasons to concentrate on training pending when Abuja will be open for business.
It also called on the Federal Government to compensate airlines for losses incurred with the same zeal it is deploying in the maintenance of Abuja runway.
“However, given the fact that we envisaged that passenger traffic will fall by above 45% where the industry needs over 70% to break-even for diversion to Kaduna, coupled with low yield. We did commence initial service to Kaduna, however, the performance of the flights operated did not meet our metrics despite operating reduced schedule.
“We then took the decision to take off our schedule to accomplish crew training and other important capacity building exercise that will further raise service quality level and enhance SAFETY.
“ Sahara reporters’ online publication of March 20th grossly exaggerated our situation as no efforts was made by Sahara reporters to seek clarification or hear our side of the story. Despite the fact that Sahara reporters has access to the Airline.
“Rather Sahara reporters choose to rely on false anonymous sources. Given the fact that Abuja airport closure and repair are the responsibility of the Federal Government and granted that the situation was inherited.
“It is our prayer that the Federal Government will urgently address the issue of financial compensation to Airlines for losses incurred as a result of the closure with the same fort rightness being displayed with respect to the runway repair.
“We also acknowledge that within the last thirty days’ foreign exchange constraints continue to ease. However, the current 60 (sixty) days forward bid is more suited for bill for collections and LC related, Foreign Airline remittances etc. But challenges remain for Airlines head quartered in Nigeria, who have to also wait 60 to 90 days for value.
“We hope that CBN will start offering a mixture of spot Fx availability to ease planning as forward transactions is unduly prolonging Airlines maintenance, Training, etc and thus compounding planning. It is our hope that Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will continue to engage the Federal Government on our industry and help improve the operating environment for the good of our dear Country”, the airline said.
The statement added that FirstNation remains bullish about her future outlook and will return to Kaduna and Port Harcourt as from March 29th when it anticipates that traffic would have stabilised in preparation for Easter season.
“The airline operates modern Airbus A319 fleet when compared with peers within Africa. The Airbus A319 are the very first sets of A319 to come on Nigerian register. “The aircraft are installed with AFIRS 220 iridium satellite global communication equipment one of the very few aircraft with this state of the art Satellite Navigation (SATNAV) equipment operating in West Africa.
“The SATNAV provides crew reliable voice and simultaneously connect to aircraft systems analysing performance in-flight. This allows the airline to track aircraft system performance in-flight from ground. This is one of the most advanced SATNAV systems which supports the airline flight operations quality assurance oversight. Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is actively encouraging Airlines to upgrade their fleet with this equipment.
“FirstNation Airbus A319’s cabin layout is in two class of twelve business class legroom pitch of 42 inches and the rear cabin in comfort class with legroom pitch of 32 inches. The aircraft offer the widest seat pitch for regional operation within Nigerian”, the airline said.
