President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, PBAT, (R.), Presides at the Federal Executive Council, FEC meetings, Olorogun Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, member FEC
The Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, has announced the possibility of reviewing all substantive Bilateral Air Services Agreements, BASA, which are about 90 in number, and in the same vein charged the domestic operators to up their game by improving their fleet, both in numbers and in the technical quality of their equipment.
Olorogun Festus Keyamo, Aviation and Aerospace Minister, made the announcement while hosting members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, who were led to his office by their President and Vice President, Dr. Abdulmunaf Yunusa, owner of Azman Airlines, and Barrister Allen Onyema, proprietor, Air Peace Airline, respectively.
He urged the airlines’ owners to collaborate more and to cooperate more among themselves as such indivisible and inviolable unity would enable them to wax stronger and be able to present a strong voice that would command the attention of local and international financial institutions that could extend to them, generous facilities with the most liberal terms.
The minister averred that the Federal Government is ready to partner with and support the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), once they raise their operating standards, and Nigerian air travelers begin to enjoy more reliable scheduling, comfort, and seamless connectivity of their services. – These could only be brought about if interlining sees the light of day.
He however promised to make a case of their plight before the Federal Executive Council, FEC, for the possibilities of AON members to access facilities at single digits, including improved associated foreign exchange Afex to meet their foreign exchange obligations on maintenance and stocking of spare parts.
Keyamo pledged to carry all stakeholders along during his tenure saying, “I don’t want to operate as a ghost, I said one of my policies is to operate an open policy… I said, bring up your challenges so that Nigerians would understand exactly where Government and airline operators stand,’’ he said.
He stated that during his administration, a futuristic master plan would be developed to accommodate everything that would make Nigeria an aviation hub in Africa while employing all airlines to utilize their Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) routes.
Earlier, the President of AON, Dr. Abdulmunaf Yunusa, presented a paper through Captain Roland Iyayi who highlighted some of the constraints members have been contending with such as inadequacy of foreign exchange, skyrocketing Jet A1 fuel price, ultra-high cost of accessing capital and none existence of funding options, including infrastructure decay, multiple taxes, fees, and charges as well as government’s policies somersault, among others.
However, while the AON leadership was proposing solutions, it requested for license to import Jet A1 and its distribution through strategic partnership and an immediate review of all industry taxes, fees, and charges.
They also called for an immediate renegotiation of all existing BASAs and Multilateral Air Service Agreements, (MASA), in line with the provisions of the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM), with emphasis on the principle of reciprocity in favor of domestic airlines.
Olorogun Festus Keyamo earlier in his welcome speech made a clarion call for investors to explore the prospects of establishing a world-class Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul, MRO hangar in Nigeria.
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