The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)\u00a0<\/span>had disclosed\u00a0<\/span>that in 2017<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0many entrepreneurs ha<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0indicated interest in floating airlines and\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>they\u00a0<\/span>we<\/span>re in the process of getting Air Operator Certificate (AOC), which follows five critical stages<\/span><\/p>\n

Another incentive, THISDAY gathered\u00a0<\/span>wa<\/span>s the growing middle class and the optimism in the\u00a0<\/span>long-term<\/span>\u00a0growth of Nigeria\u2019s economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 32 airlines made up of scheduled and non-scheduled operators are currently listed as holding AOC<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>we<\/span>re on the register of the NCAA<\/span>\u00a0as\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0January 10, 2017<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>till<\/span>\u00a0date.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0But airlines on scheduled passenger service have currently depleted in response to the economic hard times, leaving about eight operating airlines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0But\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>NCAA said there are 26 prospective investors in its books who ha<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0applied for AOC during this same period and are in the process of securing operating licence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0However, there are currently only seven airlines that operate scheduled passenger operations which include<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0Aero Contractors, Arik, Overland Airways,\u00a0<\/span>Medview<\/span>, Dana, Air Peace, and AZMAN.<\/span><\/p>\n

Green Africa Airways, a prospective airline has secured its air transport\u00a0<\/span>licen<\/span>c<\/span>e and\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span>\u00a0working toward its air operator\u2019s certificate. The airline initially\u00a0<\/span>plan<\/span>\u00a0to operate flights within Nigeria using leased mid-size jets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although there is high prospect for expanded growth in air transport in Nigeria and in Africa with the introduction of Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), which is expected to encourage and boost trade and business in the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, West and Central Africa are projected as strong trade market in the region as they host the fastest growing economy in Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere is a growing middle class, so there is a propensity for disposable income. We do not have airline market that is saturated. When people start the airline business, they only focus on the triangle routes. With right pricing, equipment, timing and route analysis, they\u00a0<\/span>are able to<\/span>\u00a0develop other routes,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>n industry expert and Chief Executive Officer,\u00a0<\/span>Aglo<\/span>\u00a0Limited, an aviation support service,\u00a0<\/span>Tayo<\/span>Ojuri<\/span>\u00a0said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Ojuri<\/span>\u00a0explained that ten years ago, operators only concentrated on Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, but now airlines are plying more routes, adding that there is also a need to develop secondary routes like Benin.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have projected that\u00a0Africa would be a market of 350 million airline passengers by 2035. This prediction, according to the association was an\u00a0incentive for investors to go into commercial airline business. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)\u00a0had disclosed\u00a0that in 2017,\u00a0many entrepreneurs had\u00a0indicated interest in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,2,47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11896,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895\/revisions\/11896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}