As Nigerian local airlines, including Air Peace, are struggling with Jet A-1 scarcity, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has threatened to sanction them for their refusal to pay the N19 billion debt they are owing.
NCAA Director General, Musa Nuhu, who made this submission during a stakeholders’ meeting, pointed out that the sanctioning is pertinent as the airlines’ indebtedness is crippling its finances and pitting it against the Federal Government as a revenue-generating agency.
According to Nuhu, all airlines are indebted to the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
The NCAA boss, therefore, threatened that Air Peace and the other airlines plagued with indebtedness, risk having their certificates suspended.
“The airlines owe FAAN landing and parking charges, while they are also hugely indebted to NAMA in terminal and navigational charges. If the debts owed to the agencies were not paid back immediately the aviation organisations may collapse very soon,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), on the other hand, had accused NCAA of multiple charges.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, AON said the charges occasioned by the foreign exchange (forex) and Jet A1 (aviation fuel) crises were choking the players.
