BEVERLY HILLS, January 28, (THEWILL) – Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) said it had concluded plans to meet with government to request the scrapping of some airport charges in order to reduce operation cost.
Speaking with journalists at the Lagos airport, Nogie Meggison, chairman, AON, said the request had become imperative to enable airlines sustain their operations in the face of harsh economic realities.
Meggison explained that if some of the existing charges were retained many domestic airlines might close shop, saying the AON had alerted government that domestic airline operations might be grounded unless the operators were given lifeline through review and elimination of charges.
He said the naira value had gone down by 70 percent or 80 percent with huge negative impact on the cost of airline operations, which is done with foreign exchange, listing such operations to include importation of aircraft parts, pilot simulator training, aircraft maintenance and others.
According to Meggison, “We want to meet with government to demand for the waiver of some of these charges because the high exchange rate is affecting the airlines, as 80 percent of airline operation is directly affected by foreign exchange from aviation fuel, which is imported, to spare parts, simulator training. Cost of parts of these services is high. We have to meet the government to see how it can come to our help.”
Story by David Oputah
