The Chief Operating Officer, COO of
United Nigeria Airlines (UNA),
Mazi Osita Okonkwo, has advised airline operators to be vigilant by always doing their basic checks in all their pre-flight operations or activities with the fuelers to check the incedences of fuel contamination.
Okonkwo who observed that the incident of fuel contamination is a one-off thing which should not be overblown, stated that It could have come from the operator or from the marketer.
Speaking on the sidelines of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC Conference, held at Providence Hotel Ikeja Lagos, with the theme, Aviation industry changinging times changing strategies, Okonkwo said the issue of adulterated fuel is a one-off incident which it has never experienced in their two years of operations.
“So, I can’t really say how or why it happened. My understanding also is that most of these fuelers obtained the fuel from the same source. So, maybe the bowser is the one that has the issue or the point of loading or offloading that creates that kind of problem. The NCAA, the operators, the fuelers and the NNPC are all working on that and I don’t think we’ll ever see it again. What it simply means is that we should all be vigilant and all the pre-flight operations or activities must be done by operators, also by fuelers. They can’t assume that once the bowser comes up in the morning that everything is fine, you must do these things. And before the fuel enters your plane, you have to do the normal basic checks. These are standard operating procedures” United Nigeria Airlines COO explained.
Commenting on the increase in the cost of fuel and how the airline is dealing with the challenges of high cost of operations now, Okonkwo noted that
once there is inflation, costs are going to rise at all levels, operationally, administratively and so on.
He said: “The unfortunate thing in Nigeria is that we normally have spikes in costs rather than the normal gradual inflationary related costs. We wait until after a long time and then we have an adjustment which becomes very difficult to manage. But we are reacting to it. Obviously, there are some we will absorb directly. There are some we will pass to passengers by adjusting the fares. But, it’s not going to be immediate because we know that the gradual increase is not what people can easily absorb”.
On the the I&E window now and if it has in any way solved the problem of forex for airlines, United Nigeria Airlines COO pointed out that these are still early days as the policies, practices and processes are evolving.
“But what it has done is that it has promised a level playing field for everybody. That’s one. There is transparency so you can build in your costs transparently and everybody will see that”, Okonkwo said.
According to him, “In terms of access, I think it’s becoming better and better. The cost is very volatile. But in terms of access, yes, if you want and you can pay, I think you will have access to that. But you have to have the Naira. And Naira is a scarce commodity now”.
