Nigeria to review BASA agreement with UK

Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation, has called for a review of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

A Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) is an agreement signed by two nations to allow international commercial air transport services between their territories.

She made the call on Monday in Abuja at the ongoing public hearing by the Senate Committee on Aviation looking into the “violation of aviation laws and practices by foreign airlines in Nigeria.”

Oduah told the committee that she called for a review of the agreement after realising that British Airways (B.A) and Virgin Atlantic had defaulted in the agreement.

She said that available analysis and data showed that many destinations much farther than Nigeria “command less fares regardless of whether it is first, business or economy classes.

“Upon becoming aware of this apparent and unjustified disparity, I directed the relevant agency, the NCAA, under my ministry to analyse the market and provide information on the veracity or otherwise of this rather apparent difference.

“Nigeria supports profitable operations when the profits are reasonable but rejects exploitation and unreasonable excessive profiteering by exploiting her people.

“We are still on this issue and your voice from the Senate is welcome.”

Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Hope Uzodinma (PDP-Imo), had sought clarifications on what the BASA agreement stipulated, in order to know if any country defaulted and the penalty.

Uzodinma then directed that the review be made available to the committee within the next 14 days.

The British Airways country manager for Nigeria, Kolawale Olayinka, told the committee that airfares could only reduce in Nigeria if more airlines were allowed into the country.

“Prices on airfares can come down in Nigeria only if there is enough supply. Demand is high but supply is low in Nigeria unlike in the other countries.

“So increase supply and the prices will tumble down. Open up the skies let more airlines come into Nigeria and the prices will crash tomorrow.”

According to Olayinka, other factors responsible for high fares in Nigeria include landing and parking fees as well as the difference in the environment where the airlines operate.

The committee was, however, not satisfied with his explanation while Olayinka said he could not divulge any further information publicly since his competitors were also at the hearing.

Olayinka, however, pledged to make available to the committee on Tuesday a detailed presentation in writing which would answer all questions raised by the members.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government in its bid to reposition the aviation sector to contribute its quota to the growth of the economy has unveiled a master plan and implementation framework that will guarantee safe, secure, profitable and self-sustaining world class industry.

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BA’s fuel efficiency drive saves over £20m

In its bid to reduce emissions and cut fuel bills, United Kingdom mega carrier, British Airways (BA), has introduced a fuel efficiency drive that will in turn help the environment.

The airline, which opened an online suggestion box, got over 200 ideas submitted by pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground staff as to how the airline could make further progress.

Some of the more unusual suggestions include replacing glass with plastic wine bottles, reducing the amount of water carried in aircraft water tanks, and perhaps most unusually, the de-scaling of toilet pipes on the Boeing 747 and 777 fleets.

Not only did this save some £600,000 as a result of reduced weight, it also improved the performance of the toilets. The airline has also employed more conventional methods such as reducing the use of auxiliary power units, single engine taxiing and performance improvement packages on more than 40 Boeing 777 aircraft.

In total, the savings were worth over £20 million. Jonathan Counsell, head of environment at British Airways, said, “This really has been a team effort. It goes to show that small changes here and there can add up to significant savings.

Not only does this help us to reduce our environmental impact, it also saves us money.” British Airways is already working on more projects to save fuel in 2012, including the use of new, lightweight catering trolleys, headsets and cargo containers.

The airline has also extended a trial of tripleO, a special paint coating that improves aerodynamics and leads to greater fuel efficiency. A Boeing 777 is to be coated, following a successful trial of a smaller Airbus A318. British Airways said it was committed to reducing net carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

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