Nigeria Airways rose from the ashes of the West African Airways Corporation, floated by the
British colonial authorities. During this time, it inherited aircraft previously owned by WAAC
and started operations on the 1st October 1958, with a BOAC Stratocruiser VC 10 linking London
with Lagos. The fleet of aircraft increased by 1960 as it added one de Havilland Dove,
eight de Havilland Herons, and eight DC-3s. Just a year later, the Nigerian government became
the sole owner of the company after Elder Dempster and BOAC decided to pull out.
During this time, the airline was flourishing, using a de Havilland Comet, the airline
inaugurated jet services between Nigeria and London on 1st April 1962. In order to replace
the DC-3 aircraft, five Fokker Friendship 200’s was ordered toward the end of the year. The Fokker
F-27s joined the airline fleet between January and May 1963 and were deployed to regional routes.
The airline reached a new agreement with BOAC to operate Vickers VC-10 services on behalf of
Nigeria Airways from April 1964 till October 1969. At the end of the deal, Nigeria airways decided
to buy their own Vickers VC 10’s to continue operating the route, but this new aircraft
crashed in November of the same year, which was the first major blow the airline faced.
In October 1964, Nigeria launched its first air link with the United States
called “Operation Fantastic”.
The link from Lagos to New York was operated using the Boeing 707s and DC-8s by PanAm following an
agreement by both countries that Nigeria Airways sell a limited number of seats on these flights.
The Boeing 707s were leased from Laker Airways and Ethiopian Airlines to fill the vacuum created
by the crashed aircraft on the Lagos – London route. By March 1970, the staff strength was 2,191
and the fleet comprised one Aztec, one DC-3, and six Fokker F27s which worked on a domestic network
and regional routes extending west up to Dakar. For over 40 years, the airline continuously served
to link various destinations within Nigeria, West and Central Africa,
Europe, the US, Middle East, and Asia, hoisting the flag of a new sovereign nation as well as
fulfilling the social responsibility objective of its acquisition. Its outstanding performance
reached its peak during the years of struggle to liberate Southern African States of Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, Angola, Namibia that were still under colonial rule and apartheid South Africa.
The period of the Murtala Muhammed and Obasanjo military administration was so impactful in the
Southern Africa struggle and Nigeria Airways was one of the instruments used as it flew helped to
deliver men and materials to aid the struggle. At the time Nigeria Airways Limited was set up,
only the federal government had the financial strength to be a player in the industry.
Nigeria Airways had everything going for it. Money was not a problem, because the government pumped
in cash massively. The support from creditors gave the airline a boast in unimaginable ways,
and for many years, it was the only airline in the country. In its untroubled days,
it had more aircraft in its fleet than any other airline on the Africa continent.
It had almost every aircraft made in the world in its fleet, from Airbus, Douglas, Boeing,
different series of BAC, and Fokker Friendship; this is how big the Nigeria airways was,
treasures it lost in a blink of an eye, the decline was steep, despite their
power and monopoly, it didn’t take time before Nigeran airways gradually abandoned the sky.
The once-mighty Nigeria airways just disappeared from the scene. Though the fortunes of the once
competitive airline continued to wane until it ceased operation in 2003. What really happened?
Air transportation in Nigeria like other African countries was a child of necessity
during the British colonial rule as the need to reach out to other colonies including
Nigeria by the British government became crucial. Just like other African countries,
Nigeria created its government-owned national carrier to serve the air transportation need of
the country as well as that of other continental and intercontinental countries. Being statutorily
the national carrier and sole domestic passenger carrier, the airline had an overwhelming
competitive advantaged position conferred on it by statute and commercial monopoly, and had
its fair share of the air transportation market both at the national and international level;
and flourished at some point as a reliable airline with the best of manpower support.
Nigeria Airways was doing absolutely fine and waxing stronger until the military government
took total control of its management, and this was when everything started falling apart.
Military officers with no knowledge of the aviation sector or business
were brought in to head the airline, I personally consider this as the point they signed a death
sentence for the airline. Nigeria airways from that moment were run like a personal entity
rather than a business venture. During this period of total government management,
those at the helm of affairs felt like spoiled bosses who think they could get away with
everything. The services of Nigerian airways began to fall short of users’ expectations,
there were incessant increases in flight fares, flight cancellations,
delays, poor onboard services, poor customer relations, missing luggage,
huge staff outlay, and poor equipment maintenance and breakdowns.
During this era, the aircraft was used to carry government officials free of charge,
it was like an extension in the Ministry of Transport that required funding, rather than
an investment that is supposed to generate revenue for the government. Nigeria Airways was run like
a government agency and like any government agency, it was overstaffed and the majority
of them were doing practically nothing. Just waste of funds on salaries and other remunerations.
Government interference, federal character (that hired and promoted unqualified people),
a system of mediocrity, the usual government bureaucracy,
and lots more combined to kill the airline. The more the federal government of the time
interjected itself into the affairs of the defunct Nigeria Airways the more the airline got worse.
Top Nigeria officials and their cronies flew the airline without paying. Due to nepotism,
routes they flew were based on the home states of those in power,
rather than lucrative routes with lots of demand, planes flew almost empty to airports in Sokoto,
Maiduguri, Yola, and many other Northern States, while lucrative routes like Port Harcourt, Enugu,
and Calabar with several hundreds of passengers were not served efficiently.
Even though some of these shortcomings are universal air transport problems;
Nigeria’s own was endemic. From the mid-1980s, the carrier had accumulated significant debts
that outstripped its revenues. The lack of concern over the type of
aircraft and the quality of the leasing company constituted some challenges to the operation of
Nigeria Airways in some locations. The airline was indebted to the tune of about $250 million
and some cost-cutting measures were introduced in order to generate more funds to service the debts.
These measures include raising the cost of tickets on domestic flights by about 100 percent and
international airfare by 20 percent. But this did not yield the required result, instead;
it drove passengers away and the airline lost even more money. The Airline earned $5 million monthly
but spends about $6 million on operations. Salaries account for about $1.1 million;
Servicing debts to the International Merchant Bank was $500,000;
Nigerian Airport Authority Fees was $375,000; International Air Transport Association
$1.1million, while $2.1million goes for fuel. As part of the cost-cutting measures,
the government instructed a further reduction in the number of staff which stood at 8,500
(a staff-aircraft ratio of 500:1) at that time, though 1000 jobs were cut late 1986.
Unprofitable routes were also either to be reduced or discontinued. In 1988 flights to Cotonou,
Dakar, Douala, Kinshasa, Monrovia, and Nairobi were discontinued as part of
the measures through flights were resumed a year later to some of the destinations.
By 2003, Nigeria airways had incurred $528m in debt. At this time the Nigerian government was
left with no option but to liquidate the airline. The debts didn’t result
from the leasing of aircraft but the accumulation of so many things. They included maintenance;
aircraft were carried out for maintenance without money to pay for the services.
This led to the selling of most of the aircraft. A Boeing 737, was sold desperately for less than
a million dollars and many others followed, some aircraft that were taken for maintenance
never returned. Nobody asked about those that were left in the hangar.
In another desperate move, the federal military government brought in Dutch KLM
to help run an efficient and profitable national carrier.
They couldn’t do much to revive the failing project, they left as a result of
instability in government policies, incessant military coups, and change of government.
Immediately they left, things went from bad to worse. Prior to when the
airline ceased its operations in 2003, Nigeria airways has been managed by a
number of foreign investors including Dutch KLM, South African Airways,
and British Airways. The deregulation of the aviation industry in the 1980s brought
in a slew of investors to the industry. It was a lively industry but ruined by poor regulation.
Today the name Nigeria airways is no longer common among Nigerians. It is all lost to history, sadly,
this was an airline that was once deemed too big to fall. Some of the prevailing questions among
many who have little or no idea about the current state of Nigeria’s national carrier are: Have the
Nigeria airways been sold off or privatized? Has the Nigerian government abandoned the airline?
However, there are have been recent development by the present Nigerian government to revive the
lost glory of Nigeria airways, but the question people are asking is; can the Nigerian government
run its own airline effectively and profitably? especially in this era of economic meltdown?
Well, we can only keep our fingers crossed. Please don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe
to our channel. Thanks for watching