Indigenous airlines have continued to bemoan their inability to access foreign exchange for operations and maintenance coupled with the incessant shortage and high cost of aviation fuel and many taxes from government agencies.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, while imploring the federal government to urgently make forex available to domestic airlines, said that as a pivot of the national economy, aviation does not only facilitate the movement of people and goods than any other mode of transportation but also ensures the ease of doing business.
AON chairman, Captain Noggie Megisson, who spoke with newsmen on the issue in Lagos,said that the issue of forex for local airlines should be resolved in the interest of safety and to avoid the collapse of the domestic air transport system.
The AON demand is coming on the heels of reports that the federal government has already made available $200,000 million available to foreign airlines that have been very vociferous on the Forex issue, using the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to pursue their case.
Megisson added that this was made possible by Nigerian carriers who, despite operating in a difficult environment, still manage to keep the wheels of the economy rolling and continue to provide jobs for a teeming Nigerian population.
