Aviation Sustainability: Shehu Iyal Wants Industry Survival To Get Similar Attention

The former Special Assistant to The President on Aviation Matters, Capt. Shehu Iyal says there is need for efforts to ensure that players in Nigeria’s aviation industry survive the existing challenges while working on sustainability of the industry in the future.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the FAAN National Aviation Conference (FNAC) 2023 held at International Conference Centre, Abuja under the theme, “Sustainability Of The Aviation Industry In Nigeria, Iyal said Nigeria’s airlines are at the mercy of so many variables ranging from Jet A1, getting a boarding gate, to other factors and that their survival is paramount.
“There is no airline in Nigeria today that can boast of making profit under the present situation. Survival is a key issue for airlines,” he said.
He urged the government to pay more attention to how aviation agencies and other players can survive, stating that survival may be difficult for FAAN for instance, which loses 40% of its revenue in remittance regularly.
Iyal noted however that sustainability of the industry is important considering that Nigeria is a blessed country with prospects, placed in a position to be a hub, with airlines recently acquiring modern airplanes that carry few passengers, yet having capacity to give break-even point to the business. He called for encouragement of local airlines with waivers.