Why NCAA needs research unit to guide aviation policy – Aligbe

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By Dickson Omobola

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Former General Manager, Public Affairs of Nigerian Airways, Mr Chris Aligbe, has urged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to establish a research and development unit to provide data-driven solutions to challenges confronting the aviation sector and guide policy decisions.

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Aligbe, now the Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konzult, lamented the absence of a research and development structure within the industry, saying it had contributed to poor policy decisions, particularly in route planning, airline operations and revenue generation.

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He spoke at the 30th Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC, themed ‘Towards Sustainable Aviation Industry: Balancing Government Revenue Demands with Sector Growth,’ held in Lagos.

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His words: “I think one of the big problems we have in the industry is that there is no section, even within the airlines or the agencies, particularly the NCAA, that is a regulator, that has a research and development unit. We need that in the industry because when airlines want to go to Abuja, for instance, the NCAA will say: ‘sorry, this is what has happened over the years. We cannot allow you to go there because you will fly empty or you’ll come back and start having problems’.

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“The same thing in the West Coast. I keep complaining. I am not against any airline, but I feel pain. When a small airline will come and fly 27 weekly frequencies into Nigeria to a place where Nigerians are not going directly, they are carrying our airlines, our passengers to that place and flying them out.

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“It is painful. That’s why sometimes I complain vehemently. And the killer airlines, killer bugs are coming, the sub-regional airlines. They are not going to survive for a long time because their vision is part political and others, except maybe one or two of them. But they will undermine the bigger airlines that have been there. And when they undermine them, eventually they will die, like bugs, but they would have killed the others.

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“That’s why we need research departments to be able to achieve some of these things, and improve the revenue situation. We should also be able to review the policy and revenue policy in the industry every five years.”

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