The fuel crisis in Nigeria’s aviation industry has become untenable. In a letter penned by the President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria(AON), Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, and sent to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, airline industry operators have signaled their intent to down tools and halt operations on Monday, May 9 arguing that the current status quo is simply unsustainable.
With the price of Jet fuel at an all-time high, Nigerian airlines have been bleeding money as efforts have been made to cushion the skyrocketing costs and prevent them from spilling over to ticket prices.
The letter from AON reads:
“It is with a great sense of responsibility and patriotism that the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) have carried on deploying and subsidizing their services to our highly esteemed Nigerian flying public in the last four months despite the steady and astronomical hike in the price of JetA1 and other operating costs.
“Overtime, aviation fuel price (JetA1) has risen from N190 per litre to N700 currently. No airline in the world can absorb this kind of sudden shock from such an astronomical rise over a short period.
“While aviation fuel worldwide is said to cost about 40% of an airline’s operating cost globally, the present hike has shut up Nigeria’s operating cost to about 95%.
“In the face of this, airlines have engaged the Federal Government, the National Assembly, NNPC and Oil Marketers with the view to bringing the cost of JetA1 down which has currently made the unit cost per seat for a one hour flight in Nigeria today to an average of N120,000.
“The latter cannot be fully passed to passengers who are already experiencing a lot of difficulties.
“To this end therefore, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) hereby wishes to regrettably inform the general public that member airlines will discontinue operations nationwide with effect from Monday, May 9, 2022 until further notice.”
