Are airlines owing aviation agencies and some companies N516 billion on fees,levies and navigational charges? This is the nut to be cracked as operators refuted the claim of Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika that they are owing that amount.
They asked Sirika to prove the allegation with verifiable facts.
In an interview, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Chairman Captain Nogie Meggison said Sirika’s labelling of Nigerian carriers as weak and unfit to take advantage of the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM) was a disservice to them.
Meggison accused the minister of reeling out figures without proof, adding that the agencies lacked the ability to “transparently record their revenues and document accurately the debts owed them by the airlines”.
He said: “We have always asked them to list the debts. It is easy to call numbers. Let those we owe bring their bills and explain the debts. Although government cannot be held responsible for the operation of privately owned airlines, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is competing with airlines, running two airlines with tax payers’ funds.
“ So, we don’t have a level playing ground because AMCON is a competitor, using the taxes we pay to compete with us. When are they going to leave the airline industry?
“Airline business is not a cash business. You accrue the charges, you are presented a bill and you pay. So, there is no airline in this world that does not owe.”
The AON chief he said for the SAATM to work, Africa Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) must provide a level playing field.
Part of the conditions, he said, was the introduction of uniform airport and navigational charges by African countries.
He said: “In Nigeria an airline borrows money at 24 per cent interest rate, pay five per cent to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and also pays another five per cent value added tax but these are waived by government of other countries for their own airlines.”
Former Vice-Chairman of Arik Air Senator Anietie Okon berated Sirika for labelling Nigerian airlines as debtors.
He said the airlines were not owing N516 billion.
If the airlines are not doing well as alleged by the minister, it is his responsibility and that of the government to ensure that airlines improve their operations,he said.
Okon said the minister should evaluate the assets of an airline and calculate the percentage of debts to the airline before saying such an airline went under, when there was a preconceived plan to take over such an airline.
He said: “If the total debts of an airline are just 10 per cent of its assets how can you say that the company is insolvent?”
Okon said because of airlines’ critical role in the economy, governments should support them, whether they carriers are owned by government or private investors.
He cited how airlines, such as Jet Airways of India, Kenya Airways, South Africa Airways and Emirates, which had financial issues and were buoyed by their governments to sustain their operations.
Okon said: “If all airlines in Nigeria are not doing well, what is the minister doing about it?
“The minister is running down those that committed their huge resources to run the airline industry. You know the airlines are subjected to multiple taxation.
“You know that airlines cannot fly to over 18 airports in the country after 6pm because there are not enough facilities and you are saying that the government is not responsible for most of the problems of the airlines.
“We took the trouble to invest and you keep on throwing figures, possibly to amuse youself because you don’t know that your management style is crumbling people’s investment.”
On the liberalisation of Africa’s airspace, Okon said while other countries adopted policies to protect their airlines, even as signatories to SAATM, Nigeria allowed its own airspace for all comers. Nigerian airlines, he noted, are shut out of other African countries with exorbitant charges and other restrictive policiies.
