…say Protectionism policy must be rejected
Posted by Sade Williams
Aviation stakeholders are seeking for clarifications from both the Dubai Airport Authority and Nigeria government on what the Dubai Airport Authority issued on Saturday as part of its travel protocol.
The Dubai Airport operations control Centre notice to travel partners issued at the weekend indicates that the airport would only welcome passengers travelling directly from Nigeria.
It indicates further that passengers would not be allowed to connect Dubai from any other country or station if they have visited Nigeria or transited via Nigeria in the last 14 days to the travel date.
The concern raised by stakeholders is that Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, which operates to Dubai via Sharjah (another city/airport/station), may be affected by the new protocol since its passengers would be connecting Dubai via Sharjah.
Air Peace had announced during the week it will resume Dubai flights on February 5, 2020.
With the new protocol, only Emirates airline operates directly between the two countries, hence there will be no choice for Nigerian passengers except to fly Emirates.
In the notice titled: ‘Dubai Travel Protocol Update-Travel from Nigeria’ the partners were advised that effective from February 2021,
1.All passengers required to obtain a negative COVID-19 certificate, the PCR should be conducted within 72 hours of the date of departure;
2.All passengers are required to conduct a rapid COVID-19 test and obtain a negative result within 4 hours of their departure time.
3.Passengers must travel directly from Nigeria to Dubai. No passengers may enter Dubai from any other country/station if they have visited or transited via Nigeria in the last 14 days.
Commenting on the development, Olumide Ohunayo, a travel consultant with Zenith Travels, said the COVID -19 protocols were in place but faulted the fact that passengers must travel direct to Dubai from Nigeria.
According to him, more clarifications are needed from the Authorities.
“What they’ve done it to tighten the health protocols test and certification and also to protect Emirates airline. There is no gain saying that some Nigerians have been know to have flouted the COVID-19 protocols by getting fake results and that is why they are saying they must get a certification 72 hours minimum before your depart and that they must do a rapid test which must come out four hours before departure. This is to safeguard their country, even those that have tested negative here test positive when they get to Dubai. The idea is to reduce that incidence of people coming into their country without having appropriate test.
“Secondly, asking passengers to fly direct to Dubai is excessive; that is protecting only their carrier at the expense of a very huge fare that will affect Nigerians going to Dubai. Are they saying that Nigerians can move to other cities in Dubai by road and if that is not possible, there will be a serious challenge because Nigerians are now left alone with Emirates. Air Peace flies to Sharjah, this is not clear enough and I think Nigerian government need to get some clarifications from the Dubai authorities. Most importantly, to protect Nigerian airlines and passengers. While I have no objection to the health protocol, I have an objection to the fact that it is only Emirates airlines they will accept, that is not fair”, he said.
Also reacting, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd), said apart from the health protocols, the other message is clear-they do not want a private airline unless it is a flag carrier or national carrier.
Ojikutu lambasted the Federal government for not being proactive, saying it should have designated Nigerian carriers as flag carriers since it was taking many years to establish a national carrier.
He said the only reason the Dubai airport authority would want to discuss with Nigerian government before taking any decision is when the airline is a national carrier or a flag carrier.
To him, a private airline would not be treated fairly on international routes.
“They don’t want passengers to use Dubai airport as transit. They also do not want a private airline. Air Peace is a private airline and not a Flag carrier or national carrier and they will treat it as such. I have been advising government to designate carriers as flag carriers if it cannot come through with National carrier. It has taken government about six years to establish a national carrier with nothing to show.
“What I am also suspecting is that people in aviation authorities are making it difficult for government to have a national carrier of flag carriers because of the commercial agreement (outside of Bilateral Air Services Agreement) between the countries. The multiple landings are part of commercial agreement.
“Air Peace is a private airline, unless it is designated a flag carrier by Nigeria, they will not give it the respect it deserves. Federal government needs to come up with the policy to ensure airlines can be designated flag carriers. For instance, for an airline to be designated as flag carrier, its economic audit report with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority must be clean for at least four years, it must belong to a strong alliance and at least be on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) list.
“Once government has a BASA agreement with another country, it has to put in place a policy for the airlines to be ambassadors on those routes, government will recommend the airline to that country and tell them the airport they want but once that is not possible, the other country can come up with any rule.
“We have now gotten to a level where government should designate its airlines as flag carriers through a deliberate policy”, he said.
Nuhu Adam, managing partner, TMSS Logistics, described it as ‘pandemic aero-politics’, saying when stakeholders were supposed to come together to achieve a common goal, the reverse seems to be the case.
While aligning with Ojikutu’s suggestion on designating Nigeria carriers as flag carriers, he said, ‘I see this pandemic aero-politics at its best. What also notice with Egyptair passengers is that they got messages from the airline telling them that they can’t connect Dubai via Cairo again except they fly direct to Dubai. They are hiding under COVID-19 pandemic to introduce protectionism in this era where all stakeholders need to work together.
“This is a protectionist policy that needs reassessment by all stakeholders in the aviation industry. An this will also take a toll on travel and tourism as it affects traffic on that rout”, he said.
