We reduced rate on Dubai route by 50% – Medview boss

Alhaji Muneer Bankole, the chief executive officer of Med-View Airline is a man that needs no introduction in the aviation industry in Nigeria and beyound based on his pedigree and experience.
From a humble beginning, Alhaji Bankole has changed the Med- View narrative by growing the airline to be one of biggest players in the airlift of Muslim pilgrims in Nigeria and some African countries.
Due to his commitment to the growth of aviation business, Med-View Airline is today the only quoted airline on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and one of leading carriers with rapid growth and route expansion drive.
In this interview with Journalists at its recent inaugural flight to Dubai where the airline made a strong statement on the route with over 80percent passenger capacity, Bankole speaks on the readiness of the airline to offer Nigerians and other passengers on the route a better alternative, plans to sustain the operations, promote tourism, partnership with Euro Atlantic, rapid expansion drive among others.

Franklin Ihejirika who was on the flight reports

Excerpts

What are you bringing to your Dubai operations?

We thank God almighty for giving us this opportunity and for making this inaugural flight a success story. When you do domestic alone, you are limited in connectivity. When you do regional operations, you are limited to the ECOWAS communities and African Union. When you venture to go into any of the countries where we are now and the one that we intend to go, you have gone global and you have no hidden corridor any more. Here in Dubai and London, we are open to the whole world and we are contesting with the great masters of the industry such as British Airway, Lufthansa, KLM amongst others. We need to play the game the way it is played globally. We started this venture in Saudi Arabia, when we went into this country for pilgrimage; we were maintaining this position and contesting along with the global masters that come to play the same Hajj operations. For over 11 years now, we have been the only Nigerian carrier that have been consistent and we have carried over 330 thousand pilgrims that have fulfilled their Islamic obligations. When we came in, there were 14 carriers, but today, only two are still in the market and I hope more will come. From the Saudi Arabian position we built the capacity by having a very strong base. For our Hajj operations, we do not only carry Nigerians, we carried from various countries.

We ventured into the United Kingdom(UK) and people thought we will not last up to six months but today, we have operated for two years on the London route. We have gone through various huddles but in UK now, we have been accepted side by side with British Airways and that is the beauty of it all. This is what informed us and give us the strength to come here. This is a global market where everyone wants to play effectively.

We have been in talks with the Dubai government for three years and we have done the ground work by establishing a cargo company here, we have our workers here and we have an agency of travel and tour packages. We went into negotiation and got our first two sets of slots. We were working strongly to build the capacity. We sent our staff here to work and some went the university here. Today we can raise up our heads, we have everything on ground in Dubai. On our arrival flight, we came in with about 12 tonnes of cargo and on the first departure flight to Nigeria, we have 15 tonnes of cargo. We had about 80percent load factor on arrival flight.

Which route are you flying to next?

On 24th of December, we will launch in Kaduna Kano Jeddah routes and we will be doing two flights weekly. We will start with Thursdays and Sundays and that is why we chose 24th December. This is the journey so far. We will soon start Texas operations and intend to have four flights weekly and Washington, but we have narrowed them down to two flights, so that we are working. We have a consultant working with us. We give ourselves six months, we will be looking at 2018 and that will be the close of the international network. We went to Anglophone and Francophone countries and we are in the Middle East and UK now. United States and China will be the next by the grace of God. We are going step by step. We do it slowly and close it. We are spending and building capacity. We are not making noise. God has been the driving force and we thank God for it.

Service appears one key factor to drive the Dubai route, how are you looking at making your service topnotch?

Ethiopian airline is owned by Ethiopian government, Emirates and Saudi Airlines are championed by their government. They subsidise everything for them. I am buying fuel at 51 dollars and I buy it in Nigeria at N220 for no reason. You can understand the challenge we are facing. We do not have government that is championing our course but these big airlines have their government supporting them. So, we know God has been the one driving this course. The issue of having that standard is gradual. We have started. We created an ambassador on-board, introducing a Nigerian attire and culture. These ambassadors are added value. What they are going to do is to supervise what others are doing. It is not something you find anywhere. The only place you find it is on Ethiopia airline. The lady you find on-board putting on Nigerian wear is like a supervisor, as they run the show too. We will not compromise in our delivery of service. I went on the flight, I made comments and I took comments and I will go back to them and we will discuss. We will get there.

In the area of on-time departure and good food, what are you doing to ensure this is of international standard?

We need to change a lot of things. Structures and discipline is always a problem in Nigeria. We saw the whole delay. Passengers were held up with immigration. There is no basis for the delays. We should have gone pass this level. Once passengers check in, they have minimum time and there is no need delaying them. We still have to get there. That is why the Vice President brought up the idea of ease of doing business to show Nigeria the way to do business. We will get there. We will improve our service delivery on-board.

How strong is your tour package?

For you to come to Dubai on Thursday, we can package your things, deliver your cargo and you will be able to board Medv-Vew flight. You have an advantage. This is one idea we are trying to sell so that Nigeria will have this culture of getting out and getting something better for themselves and their family. We are too money conscious but we need to move out no matter how little we have.

Aside from service, are you leveraging on price to drive this destination?

We have subsidised the price on this route so that people can afford it. We reduced the rate by 50percent. What we are selling is mileage. Going from London to Dubai is six hours by flight and while coming from London to Lagos is three times the price. What makes it different? It is the same cost. We have done the cost analysis and we have subsidized our rates.

How strong is the federal government behind you?

This is like a one man flight but we have a minister who is listening. He is a friend and a brother of mine. He is a young guy, he is dynamic but he has limitations. He came here and how many of Nigerian airlines have been given letter of designation yet has nowhere to go? We have two seasons in aviation, the Winter and the Summer. So, let us wait for another time if one time is not favorable. We should be discipline. We need to first access ourselves at home first. Today, we are only five airlines flying in Nigeria, the remaining 23 is gone. So, something must be put in place to ensure airlines do not close shop. We came here and they asked us to go to somewhere far away Fujirar. This took me about eight months to fight. For almost one year, I have been fighting it. Whoever is behind this scene has to open up. I told the authority that I wont accept it. What makes emirates do three flights in Nigeria, two in Lagos and one in Abuja? Why don’t they go to Yola? So I wrote to everyone and the government wrote me back to be patient and Sirika told the people that they have to support me. If not Sirika, this will die. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are doing 21 frequencies and I am doing only four and the Civil Aviation Authority,(CAA) told me I will do two and I refused and I wrote a letter, that is why we are doing four. God is the one supporting us.

With all these restrictions, how do you intend to sustain these routes?

For you to survive, you must build a foundation for yourself. If you do not have a solid foundation, you will not succeed. I don’t just come to the air. I build capacity in Dubai for three years for me to be here. My workers are here, my son in-law lives here. The rest we have left in the hands of God, once you believe in God, go and rest, don’t ever doubt God, since government come and go, even in 2019 we don’t know who will be there, we saw before 2015, we were preaching change, we are still looking because God will o his glory for this country

Partnership with the operators in the area of tours and package to fill the aircraft

We brought three serious tour operators, the came on board this inaugural flight, they are some of the best agents who are committed to the course of this project. In any project we want to do, we first of all call the agents, we have a very strong relationship with them. We believe in them, because Med-Vew started like them like a travel agency in September 9, 2000, called Med-View International Travels and Cargo, they are the same and Med-View went into consultancy to create Med-View consult which deals on consultancy on the package on hajj and it went into Med-View Airline. In 2000 Obasanjo was head of state and there were three basic issues on ground in Nigeria, the last of it was to liquidate Nigerian Airways and to talk with International Finance, IFC to provide funds, second was for a technical partner, Lufthansa KLM and the third of the bid was liquidation which was the greatest mistake for that decision at that time. Liquidation was the worst, because it was not the answer at that moment. By that time we had 62 Bilateral Air Services Agreement and we have 75percent of property in GRA, both in Ikoyi and GRA and in principle of fairness, when you have an access that out weighs your liability, you are bound to succeed, Med-View today has a solid access of over 18billion, Med-View realised in three to five years between 3.5 billion, today Med-View is over N37billion. Is not a secret, is published at the Stock Market, we are looking at the best in 2017 when we give you the books, we have surpassed our projections now. As at November third quarter, we are 28billion instead of 25 billion and we are not sleeping. We are at the Stock Market, we are not hiding anything from anybody because we have a lot of stakeholders and we must follow the rules of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. We follow principle of openness, we must publish our books and we must certify it before you talk anything. So the third quarter is perfect, we preach to you the story in 2013 when we publish our books, it was N3.5billion, we went to N10billion, went to 13bilion, went to N26billion, today we are talking of N35billion and who knows tomorrow. Our dream is N45 billion when we get the two Boeing 777. We don’t want to announce it to you yet. So we are talking to you with open mind and we are sincere to what we say. Look at those Arabs sitting there, they are shareholders in Med-View, my partner is a Saudi, so am not looking for their money here, but they will bring money when the time comes, they are looking at the books too, they are here, one of them came with us. My chairman is a Saudi national, he has been in the business from zero, so that is why I told you, to be honest to everybody here, God is the answer, keep him as the companion, you will not be deceived. Don’t even look up to anybody, just look up to him, I repeat am not a Reverend Father or Imam, but i will tell you the secret behind any success story, if you play game you will loose, if you dance to anything, you will loose because the government will come and go and who will listen to you, but if you stay with him (God), he’s there to give you an answer, that is the secret.

What are you doing to take your passenger beyound Dubai, Houston, London, China and other destinations in-terms of code share?

As am talking to you now, there are discussions with Southern China Airlines out of here, but we don’t talk. I want to tell you this with open mind, first to come to that destination, second is to keep your On-Time Performance, OTP because if you don’t keep your on-time performance status, people need to connect and you must have that time, we are just here for now and when we start, we go two flights, we are doing three for this week because of the inaugural flights, but we will maintain two flights to stabilise and grow, then we go three.
Any airline you are connecting with, you have to be on time, that airline will know that you are bringing so so number and there must be a determination for code share with your partner, so we are going there by the grace of God, we are just starting, let’s go slowly, step by step.

On your wet lease with Euro Atlantic on this, when are you going to take over completely ?

No am not going to take over because in aviation business you have a relationship. Euro Atlantic has been my partner over 10year. You known I have flown Euro Atlantic 747, they have been my partner for over 10 years. We call it synergy, you cannot get everything, Nigeria doesn’t have that structure for maintenance, Zero. so why are my going to stand alone, where are my going to do the maintenance, Nigeria does not have the culture of international standard rating, because where am am going to train all those people because all money is spent outside, I spent 80percent of my money in Panam, in CAE and in South Africa, where are those things, am talking with NCAT to step up, I told them that you guys have to wake up. There is no MRO, nothing, so why are you going to say, you want to stand alone, don’t deceive your self, even the strong ones form alliance like the Sky Team, star Rise, Star Alliance. Is not going to be a one man show. Medview with Air Atlanta and Euro Atlantic have become a family for the past 10 years, so I remain with them for now.
How important are some of this lease, whether wet or dry lease
Aircraft some of them are private owned, some are supported by investors, what I mean by investors like banks, people invest money, we need to have that drive in our country and if you don’t have aircraft, you don’t have anything, then crew, the standard of training does not lie in my purview, the crew, you can see one or two foreign crew on me the are trained outside. On standard of training, NCAT is telling me by next year, or two years, they will have simulator, lets pray they have it. I spend money outside on Panam, for the currency and all that, I train young boys abroad because am looking at the future, to have stability you must plan ahead, because those boys, I spend over $40,000 each. I spent money on them to put them online, because there is no place I can train them in Nigeria to have the standard for now. So these are the things I have been investing in and they are doing it in CAE. Number two, maintenance zero, I have to hire Ethiopian people working with me, they are there.
So the support we have is to align with our partners outside, it will be at a cost, we spend over $1 million to do maintenance, two of my aircraft are outside, one is in Israel, the second one is in Cardiff, am looking for over $ 2million to go and do some of these things outside.

With all these restrictions, how do you intend to sustain these routes?

For you to survive, you must build a foundation for yourself. If you do not have a solid foundation, you will not succeed. I don’t just come to the air. I build capacity in Dubai for three years for me to be here. My workers are here, my son in-law lives here. The rest we have left in the hands of God, once you believe in God, go and rest, don’t ever doubt God, since government come and go, even in 2019 we don’t know who will be there, we saw before 2015, we were preaching change, we are still looking because God will o his glory for this country

Partnership with the operators in the area of tours and package to fill the aircraft

We brought three serious tour operators, the came on board this inaugural flight, they are some of the best agents who are committed to the course of this project, in any project we want to do, we first of all call the agents, we have a very strong relationship with them, we believe in them, because Med-Vew started like them like a travel agency in September 9, 2000, called Med-View International Travels and Cargo and Med-View went into consultancy to create Med-View consult which deals on consultancy, on the package of hajj and it went into Med-View Airline. In 2000 Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was head of state and there were three basic issues on ground in Nigeria, the last of it was to liquidate Nigerian Airways and need to talk to International Finance, IFC to provide funds, second was for a technical partner, Lufthansa KLM an the the third of the bid was liquidation which was the greatest mistake for that decision at that time. Liquidation was the worst, because it was not the answer at that moment. By that time we had 62 Bilateral Air Service Agreement and we have75percent of property in GRA, both in Ikoyi an GRA and in principle of fairness, when you have an access that out weighs your liability, you are bound to succeed. Med-View today has a solid access of over 18billion, Med-View realised in three, five years between 3.5 billion, today Med-View is over N37billion, is not a secret, is published in Stock Market, we are looking at the best in 2017 when we give you the books, you will see that our projections, we have surpassed them. At November third quarter, we are 28billion instead of 25 billion and we are not sleeping, we are at the stock market, we are not hiding anything for anybody because we have a lot of stakeholders and we must follow the rules of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, we follow principle of openness, we must publish our books and we must certify it before you talk anything. So the third quarter is perfect, we preach to you the story in 2013 when we publish our books, it was N3.5billion , from there we went to N10billion, went to 13bilion, to N26billion, today we are talking of N35billion and who knows tomorrow. Our dream is N45billion when we get the two 777. We don’t want to announce it to you yet. So we are talking to you with open mind and we are sincere to what we say. Look at those Arabs sitting there, they are shareholders in Med-View, my partner is a Saudi, so am not looking for their money here, but when they bring money when the time comes, they are looking at the books too, they are here, one of them came with us. My chairman, is a Saudi national, he has been in the business from zero, so that is why I told you, to be honest to everybody here, God is the answer, keep him as the companion, you will not be deceived, don’t even look up to anybody, just look up to him, I repeat am not a Reverend Father or Imam, but i will tell you the secret behind any success story, if you play game you will loose, if you dance to anything, you will loose because the government will come and go an who will listen to you but if you stay with him, he’s there to give you an answer, that is the secret

What are you doing to take your passenger beyoun Dubai, Houston, London, China and other destinations interms of coe share?
As am talking to you now, there discussions with Southern China Airlines out of here, but we don’t talk, I want to tell you this withopen mind, first to come to that destination, second is to keep your OTP because if you don’t keep your on-time performance status, people need to connect and you must have that time, we are just here for now and when we start, we go two flights, we are doing three for this week because of inaugural flights, but we will maintain two flights to stabilise and grow an then we go three, by then any airline you are connecting, you have to be on that time, that airline will know that you are bringing so so number and there must be a determination for code share with your partner, so we are going there by the grace of God, we are just starting, let’s go slowly, step by step.

On your wet lease with Euro Atlantic on this, when are you going to take over completely ?

No am not going to take over because in aviation business you have a relationship Euro Atlantic has been my partner over 10years, Euro Atlantic you known I have flew their 747, they have been my partner for over 10 years, we call it synergy, you cannot get everything, Nigeria doesn’t have that structure for maintenance, Zero, so why are my going to stand alone, where are my going to do the maintenance.