How Appropriate Handling Charges Can Grow Industry
Nigeria is losing huge revenue collected as charges for ramp, passenger and cargo operations for handling services rendered to foreign aircraft.
Reason? The designated handling firms – Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc , Skyways Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, Precision Aviation Handling Company (PAHCO) and Menzies Aviation Handling Company – are not collecting cost-reflective charges approved by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), compared to what obtains in other countries in the West Africa subregion.
Despite the huge aircraft traffic into the international airports, the country is posting a paltry $28. 25million as revenue from handling charges yearly. With globally competitive handling rates in place, the country could earn as much as $56.7 million.
While other countries have inched higher in the handling charges, operators in Nigeria still charge lower rates for various aircraft types.
Investigations by The Nation have shown that four ground handling operators charge the lowest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These firms still charge between $300 and $1,000 to handle a narrow body aircraft compared to $1,400 and $1,600 charged in other African countries.
Aside from aircraft handled for regional and international routes, the operators charge a paltry rate of between N12,000 and N20,000 for aircraft turn around for domestic operations.
Investigations by The Nation further shown that there are no fewer than 45 narrow body aircraft flying on regional and international routes handled by operators at international airports in Nigeria. These aircraft types include Boeing 737, Airbus 320, Embraer Regional Jets 135 and ATR airplanes.
Besides, investigation further show that no fewer than 20 wide body aircraft, including Boeing 767, Airbus 330, Boeing 777 and Boeing 747 aircraft, are handled daily by operators. Read more
FG, Aircraft Ground Handlers Lose N14.2bn Yearly To Improper Rates
The Federal Government and the ground handling companies in Nigerian aviation industry are losing about $28,350,000 (N14, 175 billion) annually to inappropriate handling rates in the country, according to Daily Independent investigations.
This is as stakeholders have warned that if the current rates charged airlines by the handling companies are not reviewed, the ground handlers may collapse very soon, while safety and security may also be jeopardised.
Investigation by Daily Independent revealed that handling companies still charge between $300 and $1000 to handle a narrow body aircraft, rather than $1400 to $1600 charged in other African countries, while for the wide body aircraft, they still charge about $3000 instead of $5,000 in sub-Saharan African countries.
Further investigations indicated that no fewer than 45 narrow body aircraft on regional and international routes, which include Boeing B737, Airbus A320, ER 135 and ATR aircraft, are handled daily at the nation’s international airports by the ground handling companies.
For wide body aircraft like B767, A330, B777 and B747, at least 20 flights are handled daily by the ground handling companies.
For instance, the average handling rate in other West African countries for a narrow body aircraft is $1500, while it still oscillates between $300 and $1000 per aircraft in Nigeria.
For wide body aircraft, at least 20 are handled daily across the nation’s international airports by the handling companies, while 600 of such aircraft are handled monthly and 7,200 annually.
The handling companies handle 45 narrow body aircraft daily, 1,350 monthly and 16,200 annually.
The estimated N14.2 billion annual revenue loss is apart from the loss incurred on the domestic scene by the handlers.
At least, 150 aircraft are handled daily by the ground handling companies. Investigation revealed that the domestic aircraft are still handled at the paltry sum of N15,000 to N20,000 by the handling companies. Read more
Airlines Warn of ‘Major Disruptions‘ from 5G in C-band
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile collectively spent almost $100 billion on C-band spectrum licenses for 5G earlier this year. Now, just a few months before that spectrum is scheduled to be put to use commercially, a large group of major aerospace and airline companies is warning the FCC that 5G operations in that spectrum band could have disastrous effects on the nation’s air travel.
“Major disruptions to passenger air travel, commercial transport and critical helicopter operations can be expected from the rollout of 5G under the commission’s order,” the group wrote to the FCC.
The group’s basic concern centers on how 5G operations in C-band spectrum could affect radio altimeters in aircraft. The wireless industry has generally rejected such interference concerns.
Interfering altitude
Nonetheless, the development casts a cloud over the hopes of AT&T and Verizon to supercharge their 5G aspirations with spectrum that would undoubtedly improve their services. While Verizon and AT&T today offer 5G services that generally aren’t much faster than 4G, midband C-band spectrum promises to support much speedier connections across wide swaths of the country. Already T-Mobile is using similar midband spectrum – in the 2.5GHz band, just below the 3.7GHz C-band – to offer 5G download speeds around 350 Mbit/s.
That’s likely why the FCC’s C-band spectrum auction raised a record $81 billion in total bids – a figure that doesn’t include billions of additional dollars operators are spending to free the spectrum quickly and to install C-band transmission radios around the country.
However, at least a portion of all that spending could be threatened by the aerospace and airline industry, which is warning that 5G transmissions in C-band spectrum could interfere with radio altimeters used in everything from helicopters to commercial aircraft. Read more
Sources: Daily Independent, AllAfrica News, Khaleej Times, Light Reading