THISDAYonline

It is natural that public attention is now focused on the Nigerian aviation industry following the crash on May 4, 2002 of an Executive Air Service (EAS) BACI-II aircraft in Kano three minutes after takeoff. May the Almighty grant the souls of the 160 persons who perished in the tragedy eternal rest and also give the bereaved families, the board, management and staff of the airline the strength to bear the loss with philosophical equanimity.

The crash gave rise to the rather controversial government directive that airlines with one aircraft will no longer be allowed to operate and that no commercial aircraft of up to 22 years will be permitted in the Nigerian airspace. There is, in addition, the directive that all BACI-II aircraft be grounded until the cause of the May 4 Kano tragedy is offcially established.

If the government response thus far has been controversial, the reaction of a section of the media has been exuberant. No attempt has been made to tell the public that not all domestic airlines are "flying coffins"; the impression is given that all commercial aircraft are "rickety planes". If all we have in the skies are "flying coffins". why is the air safety record in Nigeria rather impressive, even better than what obtains in some of the industrially advanced countries?

Let us state for purposes of historical accuracy that Sosoliso Airlines, a Nigerian registered aviation company which operates on the domestic routes. has never had a rickety plane or a flying coffin. lf anything, Sosoliso maintains its DC-9 aircraft to the highest international standards. When we began operations in 2000, we declared repeatedly in various corporate statements that our primary concern was "safety, safety and safety". Two years later, no one can challenge this claim. So obsessed with safety are we that we have more engineers and techicians than required. Even our marketing manager, Teddy Onyemaechi, is a certified auronautics engineer.

Sosoliso may for the time being be operating only on local routes, but it is an international joint venture, a joint business between a team of Nigerian international investors and JAT, the Yugoslav national airline. The choice of the Yugoslav national airline as our technical partners is informed by, among other considerations, the fact that for some 60 years JAT has not recorded any single incident. We have in the last two years seen at a very close range how scrupulous they are with their equipment. Despite the daily checks conducted on the aircraft, a special check is carried out every Saturdays. Not for once have they failed to carry out the checks because to them it is an article of faith. The same company has for 10 years been the technical partner to Bellview Airline. Who is not impresed by Bellview's 100 per cent safety record?

For JAT engineers and techicians, there is no question of cutting corners in order to save costs or maximise profit. If any part or bolt or nut shows any sign of working less than 100 per cent, it is automatically replaced with a brand new one, a practice which is in sharp contrast to the tendency to use a "tokunbo" (second-hand) item vandalised from a disused or parked equipment to replace the defective item.

JAT has about the largest concentration of DC-9 specialists in Europe. And it also has the largest DC-9 fleet in Europe. Our alliance with the Yugoslavs has paid off handsomely. lt has meant that we have enviable and unrestricted access to a large pool of spare parts, a large pool of DC-9 specialists and, of course, a large fleet of aircraft. In other words. if we are not 100% satisfied with the performance of any plane at any point and for any reason, we do not have to spend a lot of time and resources fixing it. All we need do is call up our partners in Europe, and before you could say "Sosoliso", another aircraft is right there.

Our maintenance and operating style is expensive all right. But it is the price we have to pay to maintain international standards. It is the price we have to pay to guarantee as much as possible the safety of our machines, our passengers and their cherished possessions. This practice has a telling effect on our pocket but it is worth it. The thousands of people, Nigerians and foreigners alike, who entrust their lives to us by flying Sosoliso Airlines daily must be protected at all costs. After all, they are the reason why we are in aviation business. We have an idea about what it means to the corporate image of an airline to experience a crash. The cost may be far higher than the considerable resources we expend on the maintenance of our aircraft to international standards.

Against this background, is it fair for a handful of public affairs commentators to write: "What is the level of duty of care observed by our domestic airlines? Air travel in Nigeria is no better than the molue or kabukabu . . . The airlines are more interested in profit than (in) safety".

Questions have been raised about the question of the age of aircraft in Nigeria. Why wouldn't operators, it is asked, purchase brand new aircraft? It is surprising that fecund minds should ask this question. Not even President Olusegun Obasanjo could procure a brand new aircraft. Didn't he spend a whopping five billion naira (N5 billion) last year to purchase a second-hand Gulfstream airliner, a much smaller aircraft than jets which most airline operators in Nigeria use?

Which bank in Nigeria can loan you that amount for an aircraft when the capital base of the banks has just been increased to two billion naira? It is, of course, trite to'state that in Europe, North America and Asia airlines do not purchase planes outright. They lease. And banks do not charge more than five per cent interest rate annually in Europe and more than two per cent in the United States. But in Nigeria the annual interest rate is an astronomical 35 per cent! Still, flight fares in Nigeria should be the cheapest in the world. Despite the fact that we denominate our business in dollars, Sosoliso has been charging from Lagos to Enugu or Owerri or Port Harcourt, a one-hour flight, a paltry six thousand naira, less than 50 dollars. In the United States, the country of origin of our DC-9 aircraft, an hour flight even by a propeller machine which is not as comfortable as a jet, attracts over 200 dollars.

Questions have also been raised about the kind of comfort available on domestic commercial aircraft. "The legroom is so miserly and punitive", complained a commentator, "that you would imagine the seats were designed for Lilliputians". lt is not good enough if this is what actually obtains on any aircraft. But it is most certainly a different scenario at Sosoliso. All our seats are as they were configured abroad.

Before I returned to Nigeria in 1999 to set up the Sosoliso Airlines I had long been in international business, based in London. I resolved early enough to give our passengers quality service not lower than what they receive any time they travel abroad. At the risk of sounding immodest, may I add that Sosoliso Airlines has been doing just that.

You can now understand why Sosoliso Airlines has applied to the Nigerian government for licence to operate international flights, to use some of the largely unutilised 64 bilateral air service agreements which Nigeria signed with several countries of the world. We look forward to the result of the application with confidence and joyful hope.

Ikwuemesi is the Managing Director of Sosoliso Airlines Ltd