Three local airlines may shut operations in Nigeria due to the unbearable cost of operations, as the cost of Jet-A1, popularly known as, aviation fuel hits N710 per litre in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Vice President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Allen Onyema, at the ongoing Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) National Aviation Conference (FNAC) in Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, if the present challenge of aviation fuel was not fully addressed, about three airlines or more may quit operations due to the unbearable cost of operations.
What Air Peace boss is saying
- He said, “If the present challenge of aviation fuel was not fully addressed, about three airlines may quit operations due to unbearable cost of operations.
- “The fuel crisis is not limited to Nigeria but ours is made worse because of the slump in naira value against major currencies, especially, the dollars.
- “That is why we ran to the government and the Federal Government has given us about 10,000 metric tonnes of fuel at the cost of N580 per litre in Lagos and about N607 per litre outside Lagos.
- “This is not the only issue. Since the COVID-19 crisis, most airlines all over the world, including Nigeria, have not recovered from the pandemic, except those whose countries have injected much funds to assist them. This (pandemic) is nobody’s fault; it just happened. Government has tried its best by giving us this aviation fuel. This aviation fuel can take airlines out, not only in Nigeria but also everywhere in the world.
- “Some airlines outside Nigeria have closed down because of the effects of rising aviation fuel. If these things are not addressed in Nigeria, it can affect the bottom-line of all airlines in Nigeria.”
In case you missed it
- Aviation fuel is not the only commodity that has witnessed price hike. Nairametrics had reported on Wednesday that the cost of diesel per litre is expected to increase from N800 to N1,500 within the next two weeks.
- This was disclosed by the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association (NOGASA) on Tuesday during a media briefing in Abuja.
- According to them, the cost of diesel will hit the roof if nothing drastic was done to curtail the current challenge faced by importers of the deregulated commodity.
What the marketers are saying about diesel
The National President, NOGASA, Bennett Korie, said, “If you go round now you will see that about 75% of filling stations in Nigeria have gone out of business. There is no diesel to take fuel to their stations. All of them are going down.
“And it is not that the fuel is not there, but the cost of bringing it to the stations is too high. We know that the crisis between Ukraine and Russia has contributed badly, but the government has to do something fast, otherwise we are going to buy diesel in the next two weeks at N1000 to N1500/litre.”
