Responding to the shortage of aviation fuel popularly
known as Jet A1 bedeviling the airline operations in Nigeria, the Airline
Operators of Nigeria (AON) has called on the Federal Government to as a matter
of urgency to address the acute shortage of Jet Fuel that the country has been
experiencing in recent times.
The call was made
by the Chairman of AON Captain Nogie Meggison on the heels of a consistent
unavailability of the product in the past week for airlines to conduct their
operations thereby leading to 50% delays or cancellation of flights.
According to Meggison, “We have been forced to cry out
about the perennial problem at this juncture because it continues to put us in
a difficult situation to go an extra mile to fulfill our obligations to our
esteemed customers in spite of the inconveniences that go with it. However, we
are at the mercy of the oil marketers and many times our hands are tied such
that we are left with no other option than to cancel flights,”
Speaking further, the AON Chairman noted that together
with the shortage of Jet A-1 the marketers have been increasing the price
consistently to an unbearable point. “Till April this year, I bought Jet A1 Fuel
for N105 a liter. About a month ago the price jumped to N145. Two weeks later
it rose to about N200 a liter. Today the price has skyrocketed above N200 a
litre. This has greatly increased our operational cost.
“For instance, considering that the cost of fuel accounts
for about 40% of the operational cost of most airlines, the colossal rise in
price of the product by over 100% has equally increased the operational cost
astronomically. In the light of this, our feasibility studies and financial projections
are greatly threatened thereby putting the airlines in a dangerous and
difficult financial position.
Meggison also said:“Customers that have been seriously
stretched due to the economic hard time facing them and their disposable income
seriously reduced or erased. For most of them now the alternative means of travel
is going by road; our major competitor. It should be put on record however that
road transport uses Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as Petrol, which is
highly supported or assisted by the Federal government with exchange rate of
N285 and available to marketers. Airlines on the other hand don’t have such
foreign exchange support or availability from our government with regards to
helping to make Jet Fuel available to airlines or at an affordable price.”
“PMS forex allocation is being given regularly to
importers at N285 to the dollar, and the road transporters don’t pay 5% VAT or
the Regulatory 5% Ticket Sales Tax or any of the other multiple taxes being
charged to the airlines today, where as much as 35% of a total ticket price are
taxes and levies. And apart from the question of no support in fixed rate of jet
fuel, government is not making dollar available for the airlines to carry out
their operations. To this end therefore, it would seem like the airlines are
being undermined.”
During a recent visit to the Honorable Minister of State
for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the AON Chairman in the company of a
delegation of members called on the Honourable Minister of State ,Aviation (HMSA)
promised to use his respected office to bear on all those concerned to urgently
address the crippling fuel shortage and to come up with a lasting solution, even
if it means AON getting forex allocation directly from government to import its
own fuel as it is currently being done with PMS.
The Minister assured the delegation of his understanding
and promised to look into the matter. “I have mentioned the problem to the GMD
of NNPC and there were plans to get the Port Harcourt and Kaduna
Refineries on-stream before the end of the 2016 to begin to refine Jet A1
locally so as to make the product more readily available at an affordable price,”
The AON Chairman, Capt. Nogie Meggison therefore appealed
for the government to please note that the
operations of domestic airlines is one of the main stay and a pivot for any
country’s economy as well as a catalyst for recovery of the fragile Nigerian economy.
“We are looking forward to the Honourbale Minister of State for Aviation to
come up with a quick fix before the Nigerian airlines are pushed or forced out
of business”.
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