The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) disclosed during a meeting on Tuesday, August 30, that local airlines owe N19 billion and $7.6 million in ticket charges.
The regulator accused the operators of deliberately wanting to cripple their operations. He also stated that the airlines must commit to a payment plan in the next 30 days or run the risk of being suspended.
NCAA Director General Musa Nuhu, who submitted these observations and statistics yesterday during a meeting with the stakeholders, pointed out the indebtedness was crippling the organisation’s finances and putting it in a condition of contention against the Federal Government.
He explained that all airlines owe some debt to the NCAA, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Nuhu reported, “The Airlines of Nigeria owe NAMA over N5 billion, and FAAN a sum of over N19 billion.
The Director General stated that rather than thinking creatively to ensure the growth of their businesses and the industry, the airlines have targeted the regulator with a “campaign of calumny and falsehoods.”
On the other hand, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) have accused NCAA of multiple charges.
The organisation had written a letter to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, wherein AON said that the charges occasioned by the crises of forex and Jet A1 (aviation fuel) were choking the players.
Irked by the tone of their complaint, the Director General of the NCAA said the accusation was unfair, unfounded and had a scent of blackmail to it.
He explained that the NCAA charges the airlines just cost recovery, as most of its revenues come from statutory charges on air tickets borne by customers, adding that the airlines subtract the funds without forwarding them to the aviation agencies.
Nuhu remarked that the accusations were far from the truth, insisting that a close analysis of charges between Nigeria and Ghana has revealed that the latter bills over 100 per cent higher than the former.
He hinted at the need to conduct a review, as according to him, the Authority had not carried one out in 13 years, even though the operational costs keep rising.
While reacting to this, Kashim Bukar Shettima, Chief Executive Officer of Skye Jet, urged a peaceful resolution of the matter.
He said the Director General could have conversed with the AON privately on the issue and avoided “washing their dirty linen in public.”
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