Domestic airlines in the country may
increase the fares payable on air ticket following the recent hike in
the price of aviation fuel, popularly known as Jet-A1.
According to them, a circular informing
them of the increase in the price of aviation fuel from N115 per litre
to N150 was issued in Lagos last week.
This is coming at a time when more
foreign airlines are contemplating to halt their operations in the
country following their inability to repatriate earnings to their
various home countries.
The domestic and foreign carriers made
their challenges known to the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator
Hadi Sirika, during two separate meetings at the headquarters of the
ministry in Abuja on Monday.
Speaking on behalf of the domestic
carriers, the Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Capt. Noggie
Meggison, said the hike in aviation fuel price was in contrast to what
was obtainable in other parts of the world, where the cost of Jet-A1 had
been falling.
The AON delegation had almost all the chief executive officers of the domestic carriers in attendance at the meeting.
Meggison said, “The pricing of aviation
fuel is something that is mind-blowing. They just endorsed a circular
last week in Lagos increasing fuel from N115 to N150. The aviation
industries worldwide are declaring profits because of the aviation fuel
that has come down in their climes; but in Nigeria, the price of
aviation fuel is going up.
“We are paying N150 per litre and that
is why we pray that the minister should be please assist us in looking
into this matter in order to cut down the bills that will be passed on
the customers.”
The AON further stated that many
airports in Nigeria lacked the capacity to operate in the evening,
adding that most of them close by 6.30pm.
Meggison cited the Benin airport as an
instance, which he stated had no light on its runways, adding that once
it was 6.30pm, it would be practically impossible for flights to land at
the facility.
“I must say that 70 per cent of our
delays and cancellation of flights during the harmattan and the rainy
season are due to issues with navigation aids. In the last harmattan
period, I know that the Calabar airport was closed for about three days
because of poor visibility.”
The local airline operators also argued
that they should receive greater priority than their foreign
counterparts with respect to accessing foreign exchange.
They told the minister that accessing
forex from the parallel market was highly detrimental to their ventures
and stressed that they wanted to access the foreign currency from the
Central Bank of Nigeria directly.
In response, Sirika constituted two
separate teams made up of himself, ministry officials and members of the
AON to dialogue with the CBN and the Nigeria Customs Service over
issues of forex and waivers on imported spare parts for the airlines.
The minister said he had placed a call
to the CBN governor on issues of forex, adding that the government would
play its role of creating a level playing field for both domestic and
foreign carriers in the sector.
Sirika said Jet-A1 would be made available before the end of the year when some of the refineries would come on stream in full.
He also explained that the government
was reviewing most of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements it entered
into with other nations in the past.
The Area Manager, International Air
Transport Agency, South West Africa, Mr. Samson Fatokun, who led
representatives of the foreign airlines to a meeting with the minister,
said the non-repatriation of over $591m to their home countries might
force most of them to stop operating in Nigeria.
Responding, the minister stressed that the issue was already before the Presidency and would be looked into as soon as possible.
Almost all the foreign carriers operating in Nigeria were at the meeting.
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