The Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Mr Steve Otaloro, has lauded the efforts of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu in revamping the Akure Airport.
According to him, the world of aviation industry has demonstrated stable growth in the last decade which suggests the possibility of continued expansion in the years to come. The revenue in the global aviation industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of around 5.3 per cent between 2009 and 2019, generating about 838 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.
In a statement he said this is, probably, the reason Akeredolu has, immediately, tapped into the almost non-existent sector in the state when he came on board on February 24, 2017.
Referring to the airport, Otaloro said its humongous landmass is three times bigger in size than the MMIA in Lagos.
Otaloro said that in 2013, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had designated 13 airports as perishable cargo airports in a bid to transform the aviation sector into a major revenue earner for the country. Akure airport is one of the airports designated by FAAN to benefit from this transformation, but it never materialized.
He noted that the airline operators in the country did not acknowledge the airport as, commercially, viable for them to operate there until Akeredolu brought in Peace Airline with the intention of transporting passengers from Akure to Abuja and from Akure to Lagos at subsidised rate.
Otaloro said: “The Ondo state government also helped in creating public awareness for the airline and facilitated advertorials for its patronage.
“Governor Akeredolu took it upon himself the role of the spokesperson of the airline advocating on its behalf and using the weight of his office to bring in people to transact with it. One major message attenuated by the governor is why it is easier and more convenient to fly than to roadfare” he said.
According to Otaloro: “This public enlightenment campaign resonated with the people and led to noticeable increase in the number of passengers traversing the airport.
“This campaign increased the flight at the Akure Airport route, significantly, from its initial two flights a week routine to a daily commercial passenger flights.”
He said that the number of airlines operators in the state has also increased from one to three airlines and all of them pick up passengers from Abuja to Akure, from Lagos to Akure and versa, on daily basis.
These routes have, at present, become profitable for the airline operators and hold the records at the fastest growth rate in the aviation industry in Nigeria.
Otaloro said that with the success recorded by the airport, Akeredolu has since proposed building a new and bigger passenger terminal at the airport. This is to cater for the huge influx of passengers in the state and from the neighbouring states of Ekiti and Osun who throng the airport to travel to the nation’s capital in Abuja and the commercial hub of Lagos, while, also, returning same day to Akure.
This, he said, has boost the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR).
