Domestic Airlines Shut Down Operations

By Adesina Soyooye

The flying Nigerian public is in trouble. Beginning Monday, May 9, 2022, Airline  Operators of Nigeria, will shut down their services.

In a statement on Monday signed by them, nine in all, they said they have had enough. They said they have sacrificed enough. They said they have endured enough, and can no longer cope with the outrageous cost of Aviation fuel which now goes for  N700 per litre.

With the shut down, Nigeria will literally grind to an end as businesses will be affected. Public and private businesses will grind to a halt.

Even though the Operators advised the public to make alternative arrangements for their travels, not many people will dare. The roads are unsafe. They are populated by terrorists  bandits, gunmen and all kinds of blood thirsty gangs.

Railway services are no better, especially, since the fatal attack on the Abuja-Kaduna bound Train.

The statement reads :

“It is with a great sense of responsibility and patriotism that the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON)  have carried on deploying and subsidizing their services to our highly esteemed Nigerian flying public in the last four months despite the steady and astronomical hike in the price of JetA1 and other operating costs.”

“Overtime, aviation fuel price (JetA1) has risen from N190 per litre to N700 currently. No airline in the world can absorb this kind of sudden shock from such an astronomical rise over a short period. While aviation fuel worldwide is said to cost about 40% of an airline’s operating cost globally, the present hike has shut up Nigeria’s operating cost to about 95%.

” In the face of this, airlines have engaged the Federal Government, the National Assembly, NNPC and Oil Marketers with the view to bringing the cost of JetA1 down which has currently made the unit cost per seat for a one hour flight in Nigeria today to an average of N120,000. The latter cannot be fully passed to passengers who are already experiencing a lot of difficulties.

“While AON appreciates the efforts of the current Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure air transport in Nigeria grows, unfortunately, the cost of aviation fuel has continued to rise unabated thereby creating huge pressure on the sustainability of operations and financial viability of the airlines.

“This is unsustainable and

the airlines can no longer absorb the pressure.

“To this end, therefore, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) hereby wishes to regrettably inform the general public that member airlines will discontinue operations nationwide with effect from Monday May 9, 2022 until further notice.”

“AON uses this medium to humbly state that we regret any inconveniences this very difficult decision might cause and appeal to travelers to kindly reconsider their travel itinerary and make alternative arrangements.”

The Statement was copied both the Aviation Minister and the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.