Due to above notes that some experts and operators in the industry gave reasons why Nigeria many not been unable to develop airport hubs.
An aviation expert, Chris Aligbe said absence of strong indigenous carriers is one of the reasons.
Aligbe said though Nigeria is endowed with good geographical location, it is not enough to make her airports natural hubs as hub development goes beyond geography to strong carriers to distribute passengers.
He said other countries in Africa are using their carriers to develop their airports into strong hubs for the distribution of passengers on the airline network they belong to. Aligbe, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konsult, said until government designs policies that will promote strong indigenous carriers, the ambition to develop some airports into a hub would remain a mirage.
Aligbe disclosed in an interview with media that in some parts of the world, private carriers had assisted in developing their airports into strong hubs.
In his words: “We cannot develop hubs in our country. Globally, private airlines have developed airports as hub in two countries.
“One is Hong Kong, developed by Cathay Pacific. The airline was owned by a shipping magnate, but now it is a global airline. There is another airline that developed a hub in Brazil after the collapse of Varig Air.
‘’So, airlines have a role to play in developing airport hubs. Other hubs were developed by national carriers. In America, there are hubs, even though most American carriers are privately owned.”
He further said putting in place strong carriers could assist to build strong airport hubs.
He said about five years ago, there was an arrangement with Lufthansa to help build a hub in Abuja, but that it did not see the light of the day. He said that would not happen because no foreign airlines will build hub for Nigeria. KLM built a hub in Schipol, Air France built Paris Airport, British Airways built Heathrow not Virgin, he added.
“Nigeria is the best location in Africa to build a hub, yet we have not developed it,”Aligbe said.
He added: ”The kind of multipliers effect a hub has in economic development in any country is mammoth. If you go to hub and see what they have, go to Dubai, Heathrow, France, Atlanta, see what Delta Airlines has done, and see what hubs contribute to the development of the economy.
“We are not in position to develop that now, because we do not have a strong domestic carriers as flag carrier that can do this.”
The Executive Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Nogie Meggison, said airlines have a huge role to play in developing airport hubs.
Meggison cited the roles Ethiopian Airlines has played in making Addis Ababa a strong hub in the Horn of Africa region distributing passengers from all parts of the continent into its global routes network using its many global alliances.
He said Kenyan Airways has also assisted in developing Nairobi into a strong region- all hub for East Africa to distribute passengers around the continent. Egypt Air, he said, has developed a hub around Cairo just as South African Airways has also developed a hub for Johannesburg to distribute passengers around the southern part of the continent
Executive Chairman pointed out that any country would need more than mere geographical advantage to develop its drive for becoming a hub. He said: “But a country needs more than the advantage of geographical location before it could become a hub.
“Now, if you take advantages into account Nigeria ought to be a hub, but then what really determines a hub is the quality and the capacity of a major carrier in that particular country.
“It is not the population; it is not even the strategic location as it were. KLM is from Netherlands. How many people are in Netherlands? How many of the KLM passengers are going to Netherlands? But because the country has a very big carrier that has wide network, the airline has made Amsterdam a hub.”
He said Nigeria could become a hub if it has strong airlines that could distribute passengers from Europe, Americas, Asia and other destination outside the continent to various parts of Africa when they arrive the airport that operates as hub.
“Nigeria can become a hub if it has two or three airlines that are very strong, even if one is not strong enough, but one that can feed the whole of Africa. People coming from America transiting through Lagos then can go to Accra, they go the Niger Republic, they go to South Africa; they go to Cairo; they go everywhere in the continent.
“Ethiopia is not strategically located as it were, but because they have a very strong carrier, Addis Ababa has become a hub. So it is the airline or the airlines that make a hub. For Lagos to become a hub, besides the facilities that will enable it to become one like good airport, modern transportation facilities, the airline must be big enough to have network of routes and feed other airlines.”
