International carrier
• Nigeria to commence production of aviation fuel soon, says minister
Scarcity of fuel in the aviation industry continued yesterday nationwide, as operators began to ration flights, giving attention to those routes with higher in flow of passengers.
The Guardian learnt that passengers traveling routes like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt largely traveled without much hassles. But it was another tale of woes for passengers plying other routes, with their booked flights delayed and eventually canceled in the evening.
In a related development, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has warned airline operators against frivolous cancellation of scheduled flights without consideration of the passengers.
The NCAA, in a statement yesterday, said that the government was not unaware of the fuel scarcity and working hard to resolve it, but the operators must continue to operate according to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs).
Meanwhile, to cushion the effect of scarcity of aviation fuel in the country, the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika yesterday disclosed that arrangements have reached an advance stage to commence the production of aviation fuel in the country to bring down the cost and regularise supply.
Sirika, who stated this during an Aviation Stakeholder forum in Abuja lamented that the fuel, which constitutes substantial operational cost of the airline, is 100 percent imported and this makes it expensive and the supply inconsistent.
It would be noted that recently, many airlines, including Dana, Aero Contractors, among others, had cancelled or rescheduled some of their flight operations as a result of scarcity of Jet A1.
Sirika, while reeling out government plan for the industry disclosed that the ministry was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Budget and National Planning and Ministry of Finance to include airlines in priority list of foreign exchange allocation.
This is against the backdrop that the industry is an international one, and a lot of transactions are done in foreign currencies.
He said, “Aircraft acquisition, purchase of spare parts, maintenance and training are all paid in foreign currency. Airlines, especially domestic carriers sell their tickets in Naira and have to pay for the services in forex.”
0 Comments