The carriers signed the alliance on Tuesday, March 8, 2022,
in Lagos.
Speaking, the Chairman of Air Peace and Vice-president of
the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Allen Onyema, stated that the Spring
Alliance is for the benefit of the passengers who fly with the six airlines.
In his words: “In the Aviation world, we have so many
alliances airlines key into. We have the Star Alliance; there is One World and
several others. And airlines decide to key into those alliances for the benefit
of both the passengers and the airlines themselves.
“So, today, in Nigeria, the 8th day of March 2022, some
airlines in Nigeria notably, Air Peace, Azman Air, Arik Air, Aero Contractors,
Max Air & United Nigeria have decided to come together to form what we call
the Spring Alliance.
“The name of this alliance is Spring Alliance. We decided to
come together to do this for the benefit of the flying public that use the
opportunities provided by these airlines to fly.
“By this alliance our passengers are protected whenever
there is a problem with one airline. It is our response to the complaints of
the flying public, so this alliance will enable us to satisfy them.
“But with this alliance and what we are going to be doing
henceforth, the flying public will reap the benefit. For example if Air Peace
has a tech issue on any of its aircraft, the passengers of Air Peace need not
to be delayed, if any member of this alliance is going to the same destination,
all we need to do is move the passengers over to that other airline, a member
of the alliance, at no further cost to the passenger”.
Onyema stressed that the initiative to form the alliance is
a noble one, representing a revolution in Nigeria’s aviation sector, while
urging other airlines to tap into the benefits offered by the alliance by
joining.
He said that the Spring Alliance is not limited to Nigerian
airlines alone, as other African airlines may wish to join, adding that the
alliance originated from Nigeria, but is open to the world.
“This will help aviation, it will help the sustainability of
our operations, it will help the cause of the flying public to experience
seamless commuting whenever they choose to.
“This is where we are today, so we are hereby putting our
signatories to these papers today, launching this idea that will revolutionise
Nigeria’s scheduled flight operations for the better”, Onyema asserted.
Abdullahi Mahmood, the Managing Director, Aero Contractors,
noted that the formation of the Spring Alliance is a historic move, one that
prioritises the satisfaction of the passenger.
“History has been made here today in Nigeria, and this is
the first time something like this is happening in Nigeria’s aviation industry.
You can see that the airline operators are fully committed to making sure that
our passengers are satisfied.
LIke we say, for every challenge, you see an opportunity and
probably this is the time that we have seen an opportunity whereby the airlines
can come together, work together and have a healthy competition whereby at the
end of the day, we make our passengers happy and safe.
“Safety is the number one priority and this is what we stand
for and coming together, like my colleagues rightly said, you find out that all
these delays are caused by problems that passengers do not know and we just
carry them from one point to another on time and make sure that everything goes
smoothly.
We are asking passengers to give their utmost cooperation,
we are doing our best, it is a challenging situation we find ourselves but yes,
we are all in this together and we are hopefully coming out together”, Mahmood
said.
He also thanked all the relevant aviation stakeholders,
adding that “this is just the beginning, like my colleague rightly said, this
alliance is not only for Nigerian airlines; we are looking at other airlines
around the world keying into the Spring Alliance”.
Obiora Okonkwo, the CEO of United Nigeria Airline, said the
alliance would revolutionise flight services for the Nigerian flying public, as
passenger satisfaction is the major objective behind the formation of the
alliance.
According to Okonkwo, “Today, history has been made at this
landmark event. The Nigerian scheduled operators coming together to sign this
all important document. This, no doubt, will revolutionise the service and
provision for the typical traveller in Nigeria. It is all about the passenger.
“There’s no doubt that Nigerian airlines are going through
some situations and part of the ways to react to this is to have the passengers
in mind. It is simply thinking out-of-the-box. We are not reinventing the
wheel, we are just adopting what we have seen that has worked in other places,
and it will surely work in Nigeria so that the passengers going to the airport
are more guaranteed that they will fly.”