Two Nigerian domestic independents have teamed up with other African west coast partners to circumvent Nigeria Airways' dominance of international route rights and are establishing themselves as regional players.

Late in 1995, Bellview Airlines decided to follow the route of ADC Airlines in forming a subsidiary that was majority owned by foreign investors. In the case of Bellview the funding came from Sierra Leone resulting in Bellview Sierra Leone Airlines. In mid 1994, ADC Airlines joined up with Liberian partners to form ADC Liberia. ADC Airlines retains a 49 per cent stake in the Liberian company.

Nigeria's government regulates airfares and Nigeria Airways holds all 64 bilateral rights, despite serving only two overseas destinations. It continues to claim royalties on routes flown by foreign carriers or local cargo operators.

To gain access to the lucrative West African markets Bellview and ADC had to look for offshore investors willing to take majority stakes and obtain the bilateral rights. Bellview Sierra Leone serves Conakry, Lagos, Abidjan, Freetown, Banjul and Accra with about 20 flights weekly with two DC-9s and claims to control 20 per cent of west coast traffic out of Nigeria. In July, the airline is expecting to add a third DC-9 to its fleet which also includes a Yak-40.

ADC Liberia has 66 weekly frequencies within West Africa between Monrovia, Accra, Freetown, Conakry, Banjul and Lagos. 'The arrangement is purely commercial, with ADC Liberia using our newly acquired ATR 42 and sometimes our B727,' says Captain Augustine Okon, chairman of ADC. Okon claims ADC Liberia controls 30 per cent of the west coast market out of Nigeria. ADC's fleet contains two BAC1-11s, three B727s, one B707 and one ATR42.

In Nigeria, the carriers are two of 10 that slug it out on the home market, where analysts say the market share of troubled Nigeria Airways has fallen to below 30 per cent. Domestically Bellview serves Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos; ADC operates between Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Abuja and Kaduna.

ADC Airlines has benefited financially from its offshore investment policy. In 1994 the carrier posted a pretax profit of $2.04 million on revenues of $11.89 million. Turnover in 1995, including the contribution of ADC Liberia, is estimated at $18 million. Okon says the next step will be to fly to Europe with ADC Liberia. The carrier was said to be finalising plans with Guinean aviation authorities to begin flights to the UK in June.

Meanwhile, the future of Nigeria Airways remains in limbo especially with last month's reassignment of aviation minister Air Commodore Nsikak Eduok to head the Nigerian air force. At press-time, a new minister had yet to be appointed although it is rumoured that a former MD of the airline could get the job.

Simon Tumba

Source: Airline Business