April 14, (THEWILL) – Stakeholders in the nation’s aviation industry have taken a step forward to stem the tide of unfair fare hikes, which are adversely affecting air passengers in the country.
Top on the list of these anomalies is the issue of foreign airlines’ trapped funds in the country.
With over $743 million foreign airlines’ blocked funds in Nigeria, stakeholders are worried as the situation is already telling on their businesses, particularly the travel and tour practitioners.
The implications, according to them, include the designation of Nigeria as a high-risk country in doing business related to aviation, the increase in insurance premiums due to country risk and the reluctance of lessors to lease aircraft to Nigerian carriers or to do so at a very high cost.
They equally believe Nigeria has the highest amount of the trapped airlines’ funds, which to them, is not good for the country because of the perception of Nigeria in the global aviation industry.
To address these industry issues, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agency (NANTA) converged recently in Lagos, where they confirmed that some foreign airlines have started opening up their lower inventories for sales.
President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, who disclosed the new development, said since the last engagement with the media, the Minister of Aviation, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission,(FCCPC) and some foreign airlines have been cooperative.
According to her, what they want is for all of them to cooperate fully for the greater good of passengers and other partners in the business.
“We want to really sit down, learn and clearly understand what is our portions each time we come to a crossroads like this,” she stated.
She said payment of foreign airlines’ trapped funds is still ongoing but not in the volume that is expected by the airlines.
“There is no 100% halt, for instance, somebody’s expecting hundred thousand and he is getting ten thousand, it is going on in tiny trickles. When we had a meeting with the Minister he never actually told us some people were given preferential treatment. No, all of them are in the situation in which it is just in bits and pieces, the window is still open for them to do their normal two-week bidding,” she averred.
Mrs Akporiaye further assured that steps are being taken to address the airlines’ trapped funds, monopoly, unfair practices, border and visa issues and a whole lot of emerging complexities.
According to her, NANTA is also collaborating with the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) to host a hybrid multi-layer tourism industry conference, which will help to address some critical issues in the industry.
Mrs Akporiaye further hinted that both bodies will assemble the best faculty from the University of Johannesburg, on tourism enterprise and related businesses, to help define and determine the immediate and future drive of the industry, its profitability, and challenges.
She said, “This unique conference, which will be certificated, is open to individuals, organisations, and agencies in Nigeria and Ghana, particularly those with eyes on impacting positively on the growth and sustainability of the various value chains in the African cultural tourism economy.”
Meanwhile, airlines, travel agents, passengers on international routes and other stakeholders have, in recent times, been affected adversely by the issue of trapped funds of foreign airlines operating in the country.
As at December 2022, the trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines grew by $550 million, despite the recent intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to clear part of the funds.
According to reports, the trapped funds belonging to international carriers operating in Nigeria are estimated to be up to a whopping $743,721,097 from $662m in January 2023.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
