By Cosmas Okereafor
The Chief Commercial Officer of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Mr. Adedayo Olawuyi has disclosed that its airline is positioning to operate on major routes across West and Central Africa including London and New York routes in the nearest future. The airline presently operates 15 destinations across Nigeria, including Accra, with a daily flight to Lagos and Abuja, just as it records a total of 26 routes it services already. Mr. Adedayo Olawuyi who paid a courtesy call to the members of League of Airport and Aviation Correspondent (LAAC), stated that, the plan of the airline is to grow within the African region and also internationally. He alluded to the fact that, the airlines partnership with Guinea-Bissau lately was to set up an airline there so as to help UNA to increase its fleet presence in West Africa.”Our plan is to grow within the region and also internationally. In the short term, we are looking to increase our presence in West Africa, starting with routes such as Monrovia, Banjul, Dakar, Abidjan and Conakry. I am sure you also read about the partnership with Guinea-Bissau, so there are plans for us to set up an airline there, which will help us increase our fleet presence in West Africa.”We are also looking at UK, the US, Canada, Turkey, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. So those are the things we have planned for the next 6 to 24 months in terms of expansion.”
Asked if the airline is considering any kind of pact with other players in the value chain to achieve all the objectives, Mr. Olawuyi explained that in airline business, no one works alone and that, partnerships with local and international carriers is necessary if an airline must have quick penetration into the market. ” There are some markets we can’t enter on our own, maybe because of high competition or because traffic numbers aren’t enough to justify our own direct flight”. He state.On the issue of bird strike which disrupted the activities of the airlines and caused passenger delays few weeks ago, the Chief Commercial Officer stressed that issue of bird strikes is better imagined than real because of its attendant consequences and cost implication on the airline for repair each time it occurs. “The impact of bird strikes is immediate, flight cancellations, delays, compensation. We have to provide refreshments, bring in engineers, and pay them. Sometimes, if it requires bodywork, you need an engineer who can sign that off. So i might not be able to give you an exact figure right now, but that is something we can compute internally so people can appreciate the impact” United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) which recently acquired some more aircraft to boost its operations according to Mr. Adedayo airlifts between 120,000 to 130,000 passengers monthly, is presently working round the clock to meet its short, medium and long term targets, in all, for the comforts of its passengers and for the overall growth of the aviation industry, being the second largest carrier in the Nigeria airspace presently.
