FILE: Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo. The Federal Government has announced plans to waive debts owed by domestic airlines to aviation agencies as part of measures to cushion the impact of the ongoing Jet A1 fuel crisis. Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed this during a high-level meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, convened to address the astronomical rise in the cost of Jet A1 fuel.
Keyamo said, “I had the privilege of meeting Mr President to brief him about the meeting, and Mr President mandated us to quickly bring a request to him. And the first request that he will consider and grant is a generous discount on the debts the airlines are owing the aviation agencies, NAMA, FAAN, NCAA, and so on.
“The percentage of discounts and all that Mr President will decide, he is so concerned about what is happening. And he asked me in particular to express his deep appreciation to the airline operators. He knows the conditions under which we operate. And he said he should thank you for not raising your prices despite all that has happened.
So he has to also respond.” The minister added that the President would also consider broader reforms to reduce the burden of multiple charges on domestic air travel. “The second request Mr President has asked that we should bring for him to consider fully and grant is that he wants to set up a committee to address the issues of levies, taxes, and fees on domestic tickets once and for all.
This request has been on for a long time. So Mr President will put the team together, and he’ll give them a deadline to report to him as quickly as possible on the government fees and charges and levies that we can take off domestic tickets for now to give respite to Nigerians who are also buying their tickets.
“And of course, he’ll consider a date for the airline operators to meet him one-on-one for the other more robust discussions regarding access to capital and all of that,” he said. Also speaking at the meeting, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, attributed the crisis in the aviation sector to the sharp increase in the price of aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1.
Related News FAAC shares N2.04tn March revenue amid stronger inflows NDDC MD briefs Tinubu on legacy projects progress Boko Haram weakened, security improving — SGF Onyema said, “Why are we here in the first place? It was because of the astronomical rise of Jet A1 in Nigeria, which we consider not to be proportionate to the rise in the cost of crude oil all over the world.
The standard is that if crude oil rises by 10 per cent, the byproduct of crude oil should rise by a proportionate rise in pricing. “But in Nigeria, after the Hormuz blockade, Nigeria increased (Jet A1 price) by about 300 per cent, and these airlines are bleeding.
We are bleeding. Yes, we threatened to shut down, not because we wanted to shut down, but because we had no money anymore to continue to pay for fuel and neglect other things that are supposed to be done in the aviation industry. “And you know very well that your regime pushes utmost safety, and we don’t want to shorten safety.
So we decided that instead of not having money to do other things like maintenance, but only buy the fuel that we needed, to shut down. We appreciate this government. He added that, “The truth is that the marketers must be brought to book to explain how they got about the 300 per cent increase, when even Dangote is surprised, because what he is selling to us, his product, remains the cheapest.