The Political Economy of the New York – Lagos Flight

By

Sam C. Okudah

scokudah@optonline.net



At one point during the bidding war for control of the lucrative New York-Lagos route, Ghana Airways was ahead of Virgin Atlantic Airlines and other cream-of-the-crop competitors. I could not understand how that could be happening on a level playing field. Not that I had anything against Ghana Airways, but my thinking was that unless the bidding process was being run on the "second eleven" philosophy that Nigeria's government is known for, the picture should be different.

Finally we were presented with a winner: South African Airlines. Today, when I think about South Africa, what comes to my mind first is not the apartheid, but the man who helped lead the struggle that defeated that evil system - the one and only Mandiba Nelson Mandela.

Well, just when Nigerians living in the US were getting used to what they've always appreciated - the chance to board a flight in New York and disembark in the tropical sun of our homeland - there came the news last week that South African Airlines had canceled its year-old deal with Nigerian Airways. I've been trying to figure out what went wrong. How could SAA have lost up to R54 million on a route that would be considered a lucrative one? That didn't seem to make sense.

I talked to my travel agent.  She told me that the contract between the two organizations allowed each side to sell into the seat allocations of the other, if the partner could not sell off all its allocations. Based on that, she said, Nigerian Airways had been selling more than its 109 seats, but had not been forwarding the proceeds to SAA. This was how SAA, after a while, found itself in the hole to the tune of R54 million.

Why would the Nigerian government, through its mismanaged airline, get involved in the running of another airline? Why not just choose an airline capable of offering an excellent service to Nigerians, and then charge that airline whatever is reasonable for using Nigeria's airports and services? Why get mixed up in this seat allocation nonsense? How can an airline that could not manage itself be competent enough to co-manage another?

A few weeks back, in Abuja, a journalist asked an official of British Airways, if the company was going to reduce the high rates it was charging Nigerians on Lagos/Abuja - London routes, to reflect what it was charging on other routes around the world. According to news reports, the official replied that the rates would not go down because of the high volume of passengers the airline was handling on those routes.

I could not believe what I had read. What made the whole thing even more insulting and shameful was that of all the journalists there, none had the wisdom and gut to challenge that official on his voodoo economics.

What happened to the well-known law of supply and demand? How in the world could that British Airways official, right there at Abuja, be bold enough to insult the intelligence of Nigerians, without being asked by our government to explain the logic behind his remarks?

Why should our government be involving itself in bad business deals that leave Nigerians ripped off? A few months back, I read about what Nigerians flying into Port Harcourt Airport had been going through with a French airline. Our government had granted this airline the monopoly of landing at Port Harcourt Airport. Taking advantage of this monopoly, the airline has been charging Nigerians over $400 higher than other airlines. One would think that one of the duties of any government is to protect at all costs, the safety and interests of its citizens. Obviously, that doesn't seem to apply in Nigeria.

Nigerians who travel between the US and our homeland are not asking for too much in wishing to have direct flights between the two countries. They do not have the time and money to waste in Europe. Our politicians and government officials obviously couldn't care less, since a stopover in Europe gives them a chance to shop at our expense.