A new airline, JetWest, is set to takeoff in December flying on local
routes in the country. Founder of the airline, Dikko Nwachukwu, said
the new airline is aimed at making air travel accessible for more
people. And if all goes according to plan, JetWest will launch this year
with 100 employees and a fleet of three AC-20 jets.
Nwackukwu, a serial entrepreneur with a background in aviation, sees
opportunity in the vast market unserved by existing eight airlines. Just
15.2 million passengers passed through Nigerian airports in 2016,
according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) statistics,
being about eight per cent of the population.
Nwachukwu said: “We want to do for travel what cell phones did for
telecoms. Fifteen years ago, there were less than one million phone
lines in Nigeria and now there are 100 million. We could have 100
million (air) travelers, and I know JetWest will be in the middle of the
revolution,” he said.
The Guardian gathered that the new airline aims to project a fresh
and vibrant image. The company’s social media accounts are already
trailing colourful cocktails and memes ahead of launch, aimed at
youthful, savvy consumers.
The founder added that consumers would be attracted to the airline’s
core selling point: value. “JetWest will offer a pared down service
‘more Easyjet than Etihad’ at rock-bottom prices.
“We will cut out everything not core to the business and focus on
getting fliers from A to B. Beyond that, we will have unbundled services
so customers can pick and choose what they want.”
Given the high cost and risk involved with launching a fleet in
Nigeria’s current economic climate, the entrepreneur is mindful of the
need to find efficiencies. He suggests the company might pool resources
with other airlines.
More ambitiously, the business model will rely on innovation. JetWest
is developing its own proprietary technologies in-house, drawing on the
best talent from Nigeria’s renowned start-up scene, in a conscious
effort to boost local industry as well to avoid costly rental equipment.
The company intends to eventually supply technology to other airlines.
The three plane fleet could expand to 15 planes within three years,
and 40 within five, carrying over 10 million passengers a year.
The
company hopes this will cover neighboring countries in the region.
But not all analysts are convinced that such a smooth ascent will
materialise. Vice president at industry analysts’ CH Aviation, Ivan
Nadalet, said: “Nigeria looks like a low-cost operator’s dream with
massive population density.
But Nigeria is a very difficult operating
environment. The economy has collapsed and there is no foreign exchange,
so it is very difficult to get revenue out of the country for leases.”
Nadalet added that JetWest might struggle to secure access to the
airspace of neighbouring countries, where governments might fear
competition that undercuts their own fleets.
Nigerian aviation has struggled in recent years, with leading carrier
Arik Air subject to a government takeover to prevent its collapse.
