Aviation experts have sought government intervention as well as cost-cutting measures, following the contraction of air transport to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The GDP report released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that air transport under the transportation and storage sector contracted by 51.69 per cent in Q4 2020 from 38.86 per cent in Q3 2020 and 14.98 per cent in Q4 2019.
The transportation and storage sector comprising road transport, rail transport and pipelines, water transport, air transport, and transport services experienced a growth of –3.76 per cent in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2020 (year-on-year).
According to the report, this rate was lower relative to the figure of 15.34 per cent recorded for the corresponding quarter of 2019 but higher than –35.06 per cent in the previous quarter.
All sub-activities under the transport and storage industry in the fourth quarter of 2020 recorded negative growth rates except post and courier services. Quarter-on-quarter growth stood at 60.99 per cent, while annual growth was –13.52 per cent.
The nation’s airports were closed on March 23, 2020 to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country but the Federal Government started reopening them on July 8, 2020.
An aviation consultant, Mr Olumide Ohunayo said the COVID-19 pandemic was the cause of the drop in GDP but worried that another variant of the virus may stall 2021 recovery.
He said, “The sharpest passenger traffic drop ever was in 2020. What was forecast for 2021 has now been hit by a new variant. Nobody is aware that the vaccine can take care of the new variant. Based on that, the traffic level is affected worldwide and domestic airlines are still struggling to fill their cabins.
“New airlines are coming up but the traffic is not the same hence the need to utilise smaller aircraft. Nobody expects the traffic to get normalcy this year but what we anticipate is 40 per cent of the 2019 traffic level.
Ohunayo advised airlines to reduce their frequencies, cut down extra costs while renegotiating their loans or seeking debt forgiveness.
An aircraft engineer and Chief Executive of 7 Stars Global Hangar, Isaac Balami, said aviation was good in 2019 till COVID-19 came in.
He said, “The cost of aviation fuel has not been looked into so also the cost of aircraft maintenance. Sometimes, it is easier to come in with so much money to start an airline but what happens after five years? Even if you have a good model, what are the variables?”
Balami stressed the importance of the government to implement better policies.
