Medview: A Nigerian airline flying well

It is no longer news that all is not well with the domestic airline business in the country following obvious reasons ranging from bad policies on the part of government such as: multiple taxation, expensive aviation fuel, lopsided Bilateral Air service Agreements (BASA) which gives foreign carriers undue advantages over the indigenous airlines and above all, the refusal of the airline owners themselves to play the game according to the international rules of doing airline business.

Many of the few airlines still existing today are struggling to survive based on their inability to really understand the secret of running airline business successfully through a well thought out networking.

The insistence of the airlines to continue to do things in the same old way by refusing to key into the wind of change blowing by embracing partnership such as code sharing and merger for stronger impact has been their Achilles heel.

However, the  good news is that despite the situation, Nigeria can still boast of one or two airlines getting things right by following the footsteps of the mega carriers of this world.

One of such Nigerian carriers is Medview Airline, an airline which is presently flying the flag of Nigeria high around the designated routes it flies into.

Presently, the airline which flies to London, Ghana, Jeddah and has concluded plans to spread its wings to Dubai, Liberia and Liberia before the year runs out, is making preparations to commence flight into the United States next year all things been equal.

It is on record that the entrance of the Nigerian carrier on the Lagos/London route about a year ago is a testimony to the fact that Nigerian airlines can do well if they come out of their shell as many Nigerians have attested to the valuable services the airline render on the route which has jolted the two British carriers on the route.

Even the professionalism displayed by the airline during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia has made it a favourite of the Saudi authorities with the latest commendation letter issued by the authorities to the airline for excellent performance.

Therefore, it was not a surprise to many stakeholders in the sector when early during week the airline was announced by the International Air Transport  Association (IATA) to have secured a place on its registry.

The purpose of IOSA is to  improve airline operational safety through the industry’s first globally accepted audit programme using internationally harmonized standards.

The airline was able to record this achievement after two years of resilient audit of its documentation  by the IATA’s Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), an internationally recognized and required evaluation system  designed to monitor and assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.

Following the certificate of membership issued the Nigerian airline by IATA’s Area Manager for South/West Africa. Dr Samson Fatokun,  Medview now has the credibility of doing business with foreign airlines across the world as guaranteed by IATA which is the clearing house for serious airlines around the world.

According to Fatokun: “If you check IATA registry, you will now find Medview Airlines there. They worked for it. It is good to be there and it is more difficult to maintain it.”

The airline has already began to explore the benefit of the IOSA benefits as it has almost concluded discussions with Etihad Airways on having interlining agreement.

With Medview becoming an IATA certified member, it now has the same right with the mega carriers of this world on the IATA’s registry while any IATA foreign airline across the world can now do business with the Nigerian carrier without any credibility problem.