Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has informed the general public that its member airlines will stop operations on Monday May 9, 2021 as a result of the unreasonably high price of Jet A1 which has made their operations unsustainable and has carved an austere financial future for their business.
The statement released today by the Operators and signed by the President of AON, Alhaji (Dr) Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina reads, “It is with a great sense of responsibility and patriotism that the Airline Operators of Nigeria 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 Jet A1 and other operating costs.”
“Over time, aviation fuel (Jet A1) price 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 is said to cost about 40% of an airline’s operating cost globally, the present hike has shot up Nigerian airlines’ operating cost to about 95%.”
The document further reads that even after airlines dialogued with the Federal Government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), oil marketers and the National Assembly in a bid to reverse the present crisis, fuel prices keep soaring, reason for the pre-meditated hiatus in operations commencing next week.
The Operators lament that the extant cost of aviation fuel has engendered a warp in the system whereby the unit cost normally charged per seat on a one-hour flight now stands at N120,000 – an amount which the airlines should normally pass on to customers but cannot, because according to them, the Nigerian flying public is already dealing with a hoard of other difficulties.
AON has expressed its deepest regrets for any inconveniences birthed by this new development, but calls on passengers to make other travel arrangements from May 9, 2022 as the airlines’ decision will be in effect until further notice.
