The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has firmly denied being indebted to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). In a statement released yesterday, the umbrella body for indigenous airlines asserted that all regulatory services provided by the NCAA are fully paid for in advance by the operators. The AON accused the NCAA of misleading the public by claiming that airlines owe the agency for services rendered. Furthermore, the AON criticized the authority for using the media to regulate operators outside the established regulatory framework.
The statement, issued by AON President Abdulmunafi Sarina, emphasized that every regulatory service from the NCAA—including crew licence validations, aircraft inspections, and documentation renewals—is invoiced and paid for before the service is delivered. The statement read in part: “For clarity, the NCAA issues an invoice for every regulatory service it provides, whether for the validation of crew operating licences, aircraft inspections, documentation renewals or any other service within its regulatory mandate. Operators are then required to settle all such invoices in advance, and compliance is strictly observed before the NCAA renders any regulatory service. In practice, no domestic airline in Nigeria receives NCAA regulatory services without first making the full payment of invoices issued to it by the NCAA. This long-standing policy and procedure remain firmly in place. Consequently, suggestions that domestic airline operators are indebted to the NCAA for regulatory services are factually inaccurate.”
According to the AON, the purported outstanding obligations relate only to the five per cent ticket sales charge (TSC), which is a tax imposed on passengers, not a payment for regulatory services to operators. Sarina noted that several airlines operate dedicated accounts from which the NCAA draws its monthly remittances. He highlighted that the ongoing financial strain in the aviation sector, worsened by the Iran-Israel/United States conflict and rising Jet A1 fuel prices, has negatively affected operators’ cash flow. The AON had earlier appealed to the Federal Government through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, for a temporary suspension of statutory aviation charges to ease the burden on airlines. President Bola Tinubu had approved a 30 per cent concession as an interim relief measure, while discussions on further requests are ongoing.
The AON insists that the NCAA should operate strictly as a regulatory agency rather than a revenue-generating institution. They added: “Every service it provides to airline operators is fully paid for in advance before it is rendered.” The AON further called on the Federal Government to amend the Civil Aviation Act to empower the NCAA to collect its charges directly from passengers, instead of routing such collections through airlines. The association noted that at the time, Nigeria Airways was exempted from the charge, while only foreign airlines were required to pay. The AON emphasized that despite the evolution of the aviation sector and the emergence of several agencies, including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), domestic airlines are still burdened with multiple taxes, levies, and charges. The AON urged the Federal Government to take urgent policy measures to protect the sector, describing it as a driver of economic growth and national development.
