West Africa: As Air Travellers Shun West Africa

Although Nigeria has been pronounced Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation, the fear of contracting the disease will linger awhile as air passengers are still disinclined to travel to West Africa, writes Chinedu Eze.

Nigeria was declared free of the Ebola virus on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO) after it painstakingly contained the deadly disease that has killed more than 4, 500 people in West Africa.

It was cheering to hear the good news that the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation has been finally defeated.

Nigerians, including those in the aviation industry have described the certification as a huge success, noting that it has showed the whole world that in deed, the deadly Ebola virus can be contained.

Aviation industry operators were particularly happy and full expectation that the clean bill of health given to Nigeria, will without a doubt, stimulate improved air travels and help airlines recoup the losses they suffered due to low passenger movement in West Africa, occasioned by outbreak of the Ebola virus disease.

But indications show that activities at airports in Nigeria are still at low ebb, suggesting that the fear of contracting the disease will linger awhile.

The irony is that whereas Nigeria, which had not recorded fresh Ebola case for more than 42 days, is being stigmatised, Spain and the United States that recorded fresh cases of Ebola are not so stigmatised with such red spot.

Losses Incurred West African aviation market is estimated at about $30 billion, while aviation contributes $80 billion to Africa's GDP and creates seven million JOBS, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Recent estimates showed that more than a quarter of $30 billion might have been lost by the airlines since July, when they airlines were forced to stop flights to the endemic countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and to some extent, Guinea and Nigeria, where some cargo airlines stopped flights along Gambian national carrier, the Gambia Bird.

Former MANAGING Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), George Uriesi, disclosed last week that airlines and other service providers like catering, security operatives, handling companies might have lost about 25 per cent of their revenues owing to flight suspension.

He said that Ebola has to be tackled for full air operations to be restored and for airlines to halt the losses they have been making due to stoppage of flights to the endemic countries.

But it is not only airlines and service providers that have recorded losses due to the Ebola virus disease. Hotels have lost patronage of cabin and cockpit crew of airlines. In the case of Nigeria, some airlines, including cargo and passenger operators chose to carry out their crew change in Ghana, instead of Nigeria and that has so much benefitted HOTELS IN that country.

It is hoped that with the certification of Nigeria as Ebola -free, these airlines will return to Nigerian hotels, as they pick the bulk of their passengers from Nigeria.

Uriesi warned that if Ebola is allowed to continue, it would endanger the lives of people in West Africa and beyond, adding that it has already shrunken the revenue of airlines and the budget of the West African countries where the disease exists.

"First, Ebola has to be tackled, if not all of us will eventually end up dying; if it continues. It has had a significant impact on economic growth in the whole of West Africa. So many airlines cancelled flight to endemic countries. You can imagine what that did to the airlines in terms of financial losses to Arik Air, Asky, Ethiopian Airlines, and Kenya Airways. It is unquantifiable. So we just have to WORK ON quickly stopping it, so that we can start growing back again all those losses. But as for 2014 our growth will be significantly affected by losses caused by Ebola; maybe by 25 per cent. This is an estimate on what could have been gained if there were no Ebola losses by airlines", he said.

He noted that Arik Air, Asky, Gambian Bird were the worst hit airlines as they dominate air operations in West Africa and had suspended operations to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia for over three months now. "That is a huge loss for airlines that usually operate on small marginal gains. These airlines and others were estimated to be losing about $2 billion monthly.

These include the aforementioned airlines, international operators like Emirates, British Airways, Air France KLM and others. It also includes all the airlines in Africa that operate in the endemic countries in West Africa", he stressed.

Deputy MANAGING Director and Head of Flight Operations, Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi confirmed that the airline loses about N250 million weekly due to suspension of its flights to these three countries and corollary loss of passengers connecting from these destinations to other parts of the world.

Prior to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Sanusi said, Arik flights provided connected services emanating from the capital cities of many West and central African countries and that many people from the sub region come to Nigeria to visit Obudu Cattle Ranch and other places in Nigeria. The airline also lifted other passengers that CONNECT its New York, London and Johannesburg flights from its Lagos hub.

"Since we suspended flights to these countries, Arik is losing about N250 million a week, which is about $1.5 million. We have cancelled Lagos-Banjul; Lagos-Doula; Lagos-Freetown and Lagos- Monrovia flights. These are not direct flights. Some come to feed our NETWORK to Johannesburg, London, New York and local destinations. We have noted a decline of about N250 million revenues every week," Sanusi said, adding however that the airline resumed its Lagos Banjul flights about three weeks ago.

He noted that the major losers are the sub regional airlines, noting that the companies that provide handling services, those that earn navigational charges and catering are also losing huge resources, which invariably affected the economy of these countries, as movement by air has been significantly curtailed.

Asky, which operates largely in West and Central Africa has stopped providing service to seven countries in the two sub regions because other countries in Africa have banned passengers from Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from coming to their countries.

"Asky said they are not allowed to fly to seven countries from Nigeria. Once you have the Nigerian passport they will not allow the passenger to come into their country and the Nigerian government is not doing anything about this stigmatisation. Asky has aircraft that are parked because its operations have been reduced. They are small airline, so you can imagine what Arik is going through now. They cannot go to Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Gambia and the Ebola endemic countries," a source told THISDAY before WHO designated Nigeria as Ebola free.

Stakeholders' Reactions Speaking in the same vein, travel expert, Ikechi Uko said air travel lost more than 25 per cent of the expected revenues by airlines that operate routes in the West African sub-region, especially Arik Air, Asky and Gambian Bird. He remarked that Ebola scare broke the habit of travel in the West Coast and discouraged others who travel to the sub-region, so the momentum was broken.

Uko said with the designation of Nigeria as Ebola free, countries in West Africa should engage in promotions to rekindle air travel in the area because travelling has gone down so it needs to be reignited. Unfortunately, the airlines that operate to these destinations may not be sophisticated enough to realise that they ought to carry out a campaign to sensitise the people; rather, they would be counting their losses, hoping that with the official end of Ebola in Nigeria, people would start travelling again.

"When travelling goes down, there has to be a big bang to rekindle the desire in people to start travelling again. This has been done in other countries and airline like British Airways had carried out this kind of promotions. But in West Africa, most of the countries don't understand air travel, so it is left to airlines to carry out such promotion. But airlines are not sophisticated enough to do it. This is the time to reignite the MARKET," Uko said.

Uko also observed that the designation of Nigeria as Ebola -free by WHO cannot sink into people's senses as the REPORTS from international media may not convey the message effectively. He noted that even when Nigeria did not have any record of Ebola patient, the Western media were still putting red spot on the country.

"It is hypocritical that international media still put red spot on Nigeria as Ebola endemic country when there were no more cases in Nigeria, but such red spot was not extended on Spain and the US where there are current cases of Ebola. So despite the fact that Nigeria has contained the disease, perceptions will still put the country on negative spotlight as far as the disease is concerned. And this is attributed to biased Western media," Uko who is the organiser of Akwaaba Africa Travel MARKET said.

Furthermore, he stated that major air transport destinations in West Africa which include Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana may not have a boost of air travel until the disease is cleared from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

"The losses already incurred by airlines operating in the West Coast should be more than 25 per cent of their revenue. There was a month that there was total blockage, that Nigerian passengers were blocked from going to about 10 countries in the region. Until the perception projected by the media is corrected, many people may not be willingness to travel," Uko said.

The president of ASSOCIATION of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN), Kingsley Nwokoma, said, although Nigeria has succeeded in containing the Ebola virus spread, many countries in the world still see the country as having the disease. At the same time, Nigeria is being commended by many countries for being able to contain the disease.

Nwokoma said that Accra may have gained immensely since many airlines started using the Ghanaian capital instead of Lagos as place to change their crew, which benefited the HOTELS IN Ghana at the detriment of Nigeria. He however appealed to concerned authorities to continue to maintain the health protocols at the nation's airports to check the disease because it took only one person coming into the country to endanger the whole citizens.

"Airport health procedure should continue because more people are coming and leaving Nigeria and it takes only one person to bring the disease back to the country. Many people want to learn from Nigeria how it was able to contain the virus. The designation of Nigeria as Ebola free will not boost air travel; BUSINESS will resume with time," Nwokoma said.

Many are of the view that until West Africa is free from the Ebola virus, the fear of contracting the disease will still linger and air passenger movement in Nigeria will remain low.

Read full story: Allafrica