SAN FRANCISCO, June 05, (THEWILL) – Airline operators, under the aegis of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have asked the government to urgently address the failure to make Forex available to domestic airlines in the interest of safety and avoidance of collapse of the air transport system.
Chairman of the AON, Nogie Meggison, made this known at the weekend, stating that Nigerian airlines who had created jobs and had continued to invest in the nation’s economy had been at a disadvantage as forex constraint continues to bite and create hardships for them.
Meggison argued that with the way things were going, domestic airlines were on a dire strait, thus calling on the government to choose between leisure travel and business travel or capital flight or job creation.
He decried government’s preferential treatment to foreign carriers, making over $200 million available to them in 2016 to the detriment of Nigerian domestic carriers whose safe operations also largely depend on equally having access to forex.
“It is no longer news that airlines in Nigeria charge very competitive fares in local currency, but have to carry out numerous operational activities including maintenance and purchase of spare parts in foreign currency (dollars) thereby adding to the already unbearable burden the airlines have to carry on a regular basis,” he said.
“And the current FX constraint being faced by airlines has further exacerbated the situation and threatening to cripple airline operations in the country.”
Story by David Oputah
