It Is Not Business As Usual, NAMA MD Tells Airline Operators
The Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Engr. Umar Farouk has appealed to Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to understand the rationale behind the proposed 800% fees increase that he announced last Friday at the 28th Annual Conference of the League of Airport & Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) held at Providence Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, under the theme, Aviation Survivability Amidst A Challenging Macro-Economic Environment,” stating that it is not going to be business as usual.
Farouk said in an interview with journalists that “In 2008, we were charging N11,000 per flight and that time, the air ticket was N16,000. Over a period of that till date, the airlines have been responding to the prevailing economic circumstances and yet, the ticket is about N150,000 to N200,000 and they are expecting us to continue charging N11,000 per flight, I think it is grossly unfair.
That is why I said the theme for this year’s conference is apt and timely to the agency that I lead today because it is an opportunity for me to tell the whole world especially the stakeholders – AON (Airline Operators of Nigeria) in particular, that it is not going to be business as usual and what we are doing is unsustainable.”
“We need them as much as they need us. Safety is sacrosanct. There is no parking space in the air. So, we must prepare safety on ground and the only way we could do that is to make sure that our navigational charges are paid as when due. So, this is where we are. We need their cooperation for us to be able to ensure safety in the airspace. Don’t forget that 50% is deducted at source from whatever we are generating and NAMA has also been removed from federal government appropriation. So where do you go from here?” he said.
He further stated that NAMA is a cost recovery agency as enshrined in ICAO rules and regulations. “It is very clear. We are not also expected to release any fund to any institution by the Act that established the agency itself. Here we are as a cost recovery agency. We are being pushed to serve as a charity organization which we have to be very careful.”
Farouk said NAMA would write the airlines and engage them to understand the true situation.
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