Airline operators seek ‘unfettered access’ to FX

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has asked the federal government to provide a dedicated support line for domestic airlines in Nigeria to access foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable them meet their operational obligations.

The operators made the call yesterday during a visit to the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday.

The President of AON, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yusuf Yunusa Sarina said the purpose of the visit was to brief the minister on the challenges of the sector and proffer workable solutions.

In a presentation on behalf of the group, the CEO Topbrass aviation, Mr. Roland Iyayi said the issue of forex has become a major challenge for the operators while calling for urgent intervention from the CBN.

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“We call on the federal government to establish and provide a dedicated support line for domestic airline operators to unfettered access of foreign exchange through the Central Bank of Nigeria at the official I & E window in support of local and international transactions,” he said.

On the issue of aviation fuel, Iyayi said there is an urgent need to “Facilitate the liberalization, procurement and distribution of Jet-A1 nationwide and allow AON to procure requisite license for product importation and distribution and also immediate review of all industry taxes, fees and charges to determine applicability in line with cost recovery model,”

Vice President of AON and Chairman of Air Peace, Barr. Allen Onyema noted that foreign airlines have been given preferential treatments in terms of intra-city hopping which is not in line with international standards.  

“Air Peace flies to Mumbai in India but up till date they haven’t granted our request to fly to New Delhi because they don’t permit inter-city hoping and this is the practice almost everywhere around the world, but it is shocking that only in Nigeria that international airlines are allowed to drop passengers in Portharcourt then come to Lagos and Abuja, it is not practices anywhere and must be stopped,” he said.

In his response, the Aviation minister, Mr. Festus Keyamo noted that challenge of Forex have been lingering for a while now adding that “the ministry will liaise with the CBN to see how operators can get Fx at a single digit interest rate of 1.5 to 2 per cent as requested.”

He also warned that the perennial issue of flights delay will no longer be tolerated by the federal government adding that “Sanctions such as compensation will soon be rolled out in line with international best practices.”