AM EDITORIAL: Can State Government Ownership Impede Airports, Airlines’ Performance In Nigeria?

In recent years, the number of airports in Nigeria has increased as more and more state governments have continued to establish airports in addition to the federal government owned airports managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Between 1999 and 2024, no fewer than 15 state governments had spent N301 billion on airports that failed to meet the yearly passenger traffic requirement per airport. State government owned airports include those in Delta, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Ogun Cargo Airport, Osun, Ekiti Cargo Airport, Anambra Cargo Airport, Damaturu, and Dutse International Airport, Lafia Airport, Kebbi Airport, Zamfara Airport, Nasarawa Airport and Gombe Airport.

After establishing them, most of the airports hardly record daily flights while others only have a few chartered flights sometimes. They have depended mainly on a few viable airports owned by the federal government to survive, thereby raising questions about the need for proliferation of airports.

Some state governments had to hand over their airports to FAAN eventually, leaving the agency with over 30 airports to manage and constituting a burden to other aviation agencies. It was in the bid to address this challenge that the current administration decided to implement the already conceived concession of some international airports, beginning this year with the handing over of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to a private concern, Aero Alliance. Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has said that unviable airports will be concessioned.

Airports are no doubt, a necessity rather than a luxury, especially now that banditry is a threat to security in Nigeria. Airports are needed for deployment of troupes during emergencies, as using roads is not a practical option. Besides, airports are essential to open up industrial and agricultural areas for the import and export of goods. For industries to thrive, airports are required for efficient goods transportation.

Though closeness of cities where airports are being located had been advanced as one of the arguments against building multiple airports in Nigeria, that point has been deflated by the number of airports in some other climes. Argentina has over 764 airports and airstrips. Australia has over 840. United States of America has 16,116 airports while South Africa has over 400 airports and airstrips.

As for airline ownership in Nigeria, about four state governments currently own scheduled commercial airlines that have started operations. Akwa Ibom State owns Ibom Air. Cross River State has Cally Air. Enugu State government has Enugu Air. Some other states are warming up for airline business, including Bayelsa State with its Pioneer Airlines, Ogun State and its Gateway Air and Caliphate from Sokoto State Government.

Ibom Air launched on June 7, 2019 has since built schedule reliability, on-time performance, and service excellence. It surpassed 4.8 million passengers flown announced at its 7th anniversary in mid-2026 and has become a model for how a serious and focused state government should own an airline. Operations are devoid of any form of political interference apart from funding, with a constantly growing and properly planned routes and fleet expansion programme. With its Bombardier CRJs and Airbus fleet, it operates to major domestic and regional cities across Nigeria and beyond.

Enugu Air, owned by the Enugu State Government was launched on July 7, 2025. The carrier operates domestic flights using Embraer regional jets. With its fleet of one Embraer E170 and one E190 jet, the airline initially operated under the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of XEJet, before securing its own AOC in March 2026.  XEJet was flying smaller premium aircraft on a shuttle concept before Enugu Air emerged. Enugu Air’s operation actually bears little semblance of XEJet operation.

When Enugu Air on March 10, 2026, five months and three weeks after its first flight, received its own AOC, the Enugu State Government applauded the processing of the certificate in record time.

Speaking during a recent courtesy visit to Minister Keyamo by management team of proposed Caliphate Aviation, the leader of the delegation and Chief of Staff to the Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Haliru Dikko sought the Minister’s continued intervention in facilitating the “timely issuance” of AOC to enable the airline commence commercial operations as scheduled for official commissioning on August 18, 2026.

An AOC process is where an airline’s manuals, maintenance culture, training pipeline, and safety management system are stress-tested before the flying public is invited aboard. In aviation, “record time” is not a compliment. It is a finding. “Record Time” in the process of starting an airline business has no place in the “safety first” culture of the industry. Every State Governor and in fact, politician or entrepreneur aspiring to float an airline as a legacy project should be made to understand this.

Every aspect of airline business and operation is strictly guided by international standards, including the upgrade of a pilot to the status of a captain, which is guided by gathered flight hours, seasoning, line experience, command culture, training and checking programmes approved by inspectors, among other considerations.

So, can state government ownership impede the performance of an airline or airport in Nigeria? Akwa Ibom State Government leaves us with a resounding NO as answer to this question. However, while it may not be wrong to have every state government in Nigeria establish an airport or an airline if the parameters, safety, as well as economic variables required for establishing them are met, we here re-emphasize the importance of caution and ensuring that political timelines and governor’s tenures do not replace standard and required certification timelines and soundness of decisions when it affects airports or airline’s establishment.

In the case of airports for instance, Nigeria’s air passenger projection in 2000 for 2020 was 20 million passengers. This is 2026 and the highest record has been 17 million. Yet, more state governments are building airports and establishing airlines, an indication that such project decisions may not have been guided by factors that should guide them.

The NCAA has in recent years, lived up to its responsibilities in numerous areas, including automation of certification processes to make them seamless, strict regulatory oversight measures, consumer protection activities, sanitization of the industry and other recorded pluses. It is important that its vigor in carrying out its responsibilities in totality is sustained firmly.

Every entrepreneur or State Governor (or government) aspiring to set up an airline or airport as a legacy project should be made to understand that the certificate process is not an obstacle to that ambition. It only stands between their ambition and national interest.

Appropriate conditions must be considered before establishing impactful establishments like airports and airlines. AM