Ground handling services underpriced — SAHCO

The Managing Director of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc, Mr Basil Agboarumi, says ground handling services are underpriced in Nigeria.

Agboarumi said there was a need for stakeholders to take steps in ensuring that ground handlers were treated right.

He said, “I am one person that believes strongly that ground handling in Nigeria is underpriced and for us to continue to get the kind of ground handling that we require, especially now that things are getting harder for everyone in terms of procurement of equipment, industry must be ready to take the right step for the right of ground handling that we expect.

“We have been talking to government and government has been so good to the airlines, but I think it’s high time the government looked at the side of the ground handling companies. We need waivers on procurement of equipment, just as the government has granted the airlines. Government should also look at how it can reduce our burdens.”

Agboarumi spoke at a reception organised by LAAC to honour him as the first public relations manager to be elevated as a substantive chief executive officer of an aviation company in the country.

He also urged ground handling companies to cooperate in order to enforce the right prices on services rendered to airlines.

“We need cooperation in the industry. The ground handlers need to come together because we cannot be isolated from what is happening in the sector. What happens to an aspect of the industry, affects all since the general duty of us in our various segments of the industry is to see how passengers or goods can move from one point to the other,” he added.