Ahead of flight restart, travellers, airlines and airports are grappling with a potpourri of rules put in place during the pandemic that will make flying different in almost every country.
On the aircraft, one of the rules that have elicited heated debate has been over whether middle seats should be empty.
If adopted it would limit aircraft to two-thirds of their normal capacity, not enough for most airlines to make a profit without increasing fares.
Proponents of the campaign contend that keeping the middle seats vacant once flights resume will ensure safety in the face of the ravaging COVID-19.
In his presentation at the recent webinar organised by the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) with the theme ‘Nigeria’s aviation industry: Changing times, changing strategies” the chairman and chief executive officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema who has been at the forefront of opposition to the empty middle seat initiative said airlines do not support the initiative.
He said air travellers are not likely to contract the dreaded coronavirus disease onboard the aircraft as airlines have all devised ways to ensure limited contact during boarding as well as safeguard passengers.
He pointed out that passengers could catch the disease around the airport or any other environment before even getting to boarding point.
“COVID-19 can be contracted anywhere and at any environment. We have devised a way to board and reduce contact a lot by first calling for the right window seats and after that and they are settled, we can call for the middle seats. After that we can call for the left window seats then you can call in the aisle seats at the right and then the aisle seats at the left. This will ensure interaction is minimal.
“If we leave the middle empty then the least ticket would be N100, 000, which will not be good for airline and passengers,” he said.
The principal managing partner of Avaero Capital, Ms Sindy Foster in her presentation described the empty middle seat initiative as “ridiculous”.
She said removing the middle seats does no one or airline any advantage.
It is a ridiculous idea for airlines and it won’t work; it is unnecessary and we have to look at the disadvantage and majorly, a lot of people will have limited capacity for travel by air.”
She also spoke on the need for aviation infrastructure upgrade saying Nigeria needs to attract investment into the aviation industry as doing so will make the industry attractive to any investor.
“The industry needs to attract investment. Investment in aviation is important and it is the responsibility of everyone in the industry to make the industry attractive. Meaning there must be corporate governance in every aspect of the industry and majorly airlines and the negative publicity needs to stop. Players have to be law abiding; recent events in the media have painted the industry negatively. So as players it is our responsibility to end that,” she said.
Foster also made a case for capacity to grow cargo, saying that broadening that market could regain what it loses to moving cargo by road.
“There is the need to extend airport operations and lay some more emphasis on cargo; broadening cargo is the right way to go as many goods go through our roads and 60 per cent of cargoes are lost to these roads. We need to do something to attract flying cargo with the right pricing,” she added.
Some other participants at the even harped on the use of technology to unburden the system and reduce physical contact onboard to the barest minimal.
The president of Sabre Network West Africa, Mr. Gabriel Olowo, said check-in would pose a serious challenge and wondered how ready the industry was to do business with minimal contact.
The former director general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren advised industry players to embrace automation to reduce contact.
“You can do every ticket purchase, every check-in; even choose a seat via your laptop. You cannot process 1000 people one by one and you should not have to, so the industry needs automation. Airport infrastructure also needs to improve,” he said.
For his part, the commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr. Akin Olateru urged airlines, ground handling firms and other service providers to think outside the box to be competitive in the post COVID-19 era.
“Everybody’s income has shrunk, every family needs to readjust, the only way to survive is thinking out of the box. There is need to begin to think of how to be a gainer in this situation; there is need to review our strategies. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) need to support businesses; bailout is not going to last forever. There must be a strong collaboration by everyone,” he said.
