BARRING any minute change, the aviation ground handling companies in Nigeria may soon increase their handling rates across board.
The development becomes pertinent in the face of the harsh economic conditions worsened by the unfriendly business environment that has been compounded by different factors ranging from fall in the value of naira, lack of forex, excessive rise in dollar and other currencies exchange rates which have obviously impacted every mode of business including ground handling.
To survive the hardships, the handling companies especially the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) and the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) are at the verge of reviewing the ground handling charges for domestic airlines though still subject to approval of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
According to information gathered from some of the ground handling firms, the new charges could be raised to 300 percent to bring the safety threshold charge at par with what is obtainable in other African countries.
If the new charges are effected, airlines may start paying between N200,000 and N30,000 as against the hitherto N70,000 charges for handling a Boeing 737 aircraft while to handle a CRJ aircraft and other lightweight aircraft may increase to between N150,000 and N250,000.
In the last two years, while the domestic airlines have raised their fares by over 700 percent, reverse has been the case with the handling companies whose previous efforts to increase their handling charges have met with criticisms.
In view of the obvious challenges, the handling companies have described the handling charges increase as inevitable in the face of the foreign exchange crisis and other costs of operation.
The handling companies have stuck to the old rates of N70,000 for B737, N50,000 for CRJ and Embraer, while Dash 8 was handled at N25,000 per flight, or their equivalents as approved by the NCAA three years ago.
Reacting to the planned handling charges increase, the chairman of the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria (AGHAN), the overall body of ground handling companies in the country, Mr Olaniyi Adigun in the defence of the handling companies said in view of the obvious economic challenges, it becomes imperative for them to do what is required for them to remain in business.
Adigun declared: “The airlines and the ground handling companies are also operating in the same market facing the same economic reality. For AGAN, our job is not to influence the commercial activities of all our members. Our members know their costs, and they know when and what rate to determine. We do not support price fixing. AGHAN is to make sure that there is a conducive environment within our sector of the aviation industry.
While describing the role of AGHAN as an intermediary between the government and industry bodies for things that will benefit the sector, the AGHAN Chairman remarked: “We also see that anything that will project this industry, this sector, is what we stand for. But when it comes to commercial decisions, they are private companies, they have loans, they have staff, they have to buy machines at exorbitant prices.
They have to pay government taxes, and they only have a point of duty to guarantee safety before everything about aviation is safety, and safety starts on the ground. I can assure you that at the right time, these ground handling companies will do the needful. I know they are jogging their figures, and I know that they will do the needful. There is no way they can survive with that N70,000.
It is unfair, he added.
On whether the NCAA would grant approval for the proposed charges, Adigun who said that the aviation regulatory body does not determine what to charge by the ground handling companies, however, explained that what it does and what the law stipulates even internationally, is to submit fares in the case or airlines to the NCAA to look and say it is fair which he said applies to the charges by the aviation ground handling firms.
His words: NCAA does not know your cost. They cannot say, you have to sell at this. What the NCAA does is to make sure you don’t take advantage of the situation. Again, the last time that we increased the price, we submitted it in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations to the NCAA and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) saw the justification for it.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s hunger crisis deepens with 33 million at risk
and then