Emerging Opportunities From Nigeria’s Aviation Industry Challenges, By Bankole Bernard
The Group Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings, Mr. Bankole Bernard says a number of hidden opportunities have emerged from the various problems that Nigeria’s aviation industry has faced in recent years.
Speaking during an interactive session with aviation journalists today on the organization’s expectations for 2025 at Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA) Facility, Ikeja, Bernard said the accident records of the previous years had compelled most domestic airlines to subject themselves to IATA’s Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) such that many of them now have IOSA Certificates, thereby addressing the existing airlines safety challenge. He said the next phase would be the commercial issue of being in the IATA clearing house to obtain benefits of forex, partnerships, inventory, investment opportunities worldwide and going beyond point to point ticket sales.
“Any airline that wants to grow should go beyond selling tickets from point to point,” he said.
Bernard said the challenge of airlines’ trapped funds that occurred in 2023/2024 may never happen again because of the measures it has birthed to address it, adding that the challenge of uncertainties in planning, resulting from fluctuations in the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar has made government introduce a policy that led to forex stability.
He also posited that the approach of the Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) to industry issues, is creating awareness about Nigeria’s aviation industry such that the industry is one of the most talked about sector under the current government.
He further noted that the weakness of the naira in comparison to the dollar was responsible for the success of the Dety December tourism effect in 2024 as it built inquisitiveness of travellers that visited Nigeria to experience the country during the season.
Bankole also noted that the proliferation of state owned airports might have come as a fluke or other means but “it is a major investment. All those airports can be used as cargo airports.”
He said the “cargo business in Nigeria is in disarray” and that government needs to streamline policies that will guide the sub-sector’s operations.
“Government business is not about business but about regulation,” he said.
On Finchglow Holding’s expectations for year 2025, Bernard said the group had started with a paradigm shift. He said the leadership team had been increased by bringing on board, a Managing Director for Finchglow TravelDen, Mr. Olugbenga Onitilo, who will be making a lot of changes on how business is done.
Bankole further said the first Live edition of Finchglow Partners Plus held in Abuja in 2024 had over 140 trade partners in attendance.
On LAA, Bernard said the new facility that was launched in 2024, was a milestone for the institution and that at each point in time, the school has over 100 students. He said LAA has students from United Kingdom, Ghana and Cameroun because of uniqueness of its facility, stating that during the accreditation process, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), approved 25 students limit for cabin crew training, but that during inspection, the students’ limit was increased to 50. 40 SAHCO Plc personnel have also been trained by the institution according to the Head of School and Training, LAA, Mr. Bolaji Durojaiye.
In his presentation, the Managing Director of Finchglow Travels, Mr. Ezekiel Ikotun said the Live edition of the Partners Plus Connect would hold again in 2025 and that the company also intends to feed people in vulnerable communities in alignment with the zero hunger target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
