Reps Airline Operators Call for Stability of Foreign Exchange for Reduction in Air Fare 

Jonas Ezieke, Abuja.

The Leadership of the House of Representatives and its Committee on Aviation and the Airlines Operators Association of Nigeria AOAN have called on the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to work towards providing a stable foreign exchange regime for the stability of the operations of the aviation industry

They made the call on Monday at an interventionist meeting brokered by the House on the lingering crisis occasioned by the scarcity of aviation fuel Jet A1 in the country which resulted in the threat by the operators to shut down airline operations in Nigeria.

Speaker of the House Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila who brokered the meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and the airline operators’s representatives said that the meeting had resolved that the operators should not shut down airlines as threatend.

He further said that the long term solution to the issue of scarcity of aviation fuel is that the airline operators should begin the process of getting approval for importation of Jet A1 into the country.

Furthermore the NNPC and the airline operators he said have agreed for an adequate supply of the scarce petroleum products to airlines for three months consistently

He initially frowned at initial absence of the CBN boss at the hearing saying that the flipside on aviation operations by foreign exchange fluctuations is a well known reality to everyone.

He told the apex bank governor if he can get the foreign exchange to the operators in the aviation industry at a concessionary rate.

Similarly, Deputy Speaker of the House Hon.Idris Ahmed said that the CBN should intervene with funds to resuscitate the operation of airlines in the country as it did to agriculture, banking and other sectors.

Another member of the House Hon.Sada Soli said that they should hold on to the CBN governor to provide the needed buffer to stabilise the crisis

But the CBN governor who later appeared at the meeting said that the apex bank is constrained to give the request of the lawmakers as the bank does not have sufficient foreign exchange for private sector players

He called in the airline operators to go to the commercial banks to seek for loans if they know that they are credit worthy for such facilities.

At the parley, the Vice Chairman of Airline OperatorsAssociation of Nigeria AOAN Mr Abusul Yunusa accused the NNPC of failing to hour the previous agreement reached by the parties saying that it had resulted in price differencial and scarcity of the aviation fuel in the past months.

According to another airline operator Dr Obiora Okonkwo of the United Airlines over fifty airlines have gone down in their operations due to high cost of operations and nobody including the industry regulators are asking questions.

They said that the NNPC should address the non release of 25,000 metric tonnes of aviation fuel it agreed to supply to the operators at the last meeting.

But the Group Managing Director GMD of NNPC Dr.Mele Kyari said that the problem in the aviation sector is not just the aviation fuel.

He further said that the NNPC was not interested in bringing in the product into the country adding  there is a foreign exchange challenge to the problem.

He added that they brought in the product at N430 as landing cost and the major problem is that the airlines could not access foreign exchange.

He also said that the operators should go and enforce the agreement they have with the suppliers

But the airline operators lamented that the price of the products is fluctuating between  N580 and N600 leading to high cost of operation.

They told the House that the only option available to them if they don’t shut down operations at the airports was to go back and rework the airfare prices to reflect the new cost of the petroleum products.

Chairman of the House Committee Hon Nnoli Nnaji in hla remark said that the major problem in the aviation industry is that the operators are not well supervised

Other lawmakers including the Chief Whip of the House Hon.Tahir Monguno wondered where there should be such crisis in a sector that is deregulated and governed by market forces.