News
The revenue stream of the
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the apex aviation regulatory
authority, has shrunk by 90 percent between January and May following the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Director-General of the
authority, Captain Musa Nuhu, who revealed this on Friday, also warned that
many holders of Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) in Nigeria may not survive the
COVID-19 crisis following the flights’ restriction put in place to contain the
spread of the pandemic.
He spoke at the webinar on
“The Impact of COVID-19 on the Aviation Sector: The Way Forward”.
Nuhu, in his presentation,
noted that many airlines all over the world may not survive the COVID-19 crisis
as the big carriers have continued to lay off workers, saying Nigerian airlines
are not insulated from the crisis.
He noted that while IATA has
projected $900million loss for Nigerian airlines, the loss is going to be seven
times higher in the entire aviation.
Nuhu reiterated that the
loss of revenues by the Nigerian airlines following the flight suspension has
put a lot of burden on the regulatory body, as it is a safety issue.
“Under the Civil Aviation
Regulations, one of our duties is economic regulations of the airlines, to help
the airlines survive but the COVID-19 has really set us back greatly,” he said.
He emphasized that about 80
percent of the NCAA’s revenues come from the Ticket Sale Charge and Cargo Sale
Charge (TSC/CSC), disclosing that from January to date, the revenue of the NCAA
dropped by 90 percent.
He said the Federal
Government is committed to assisting the airlines in their recovery plan,
saying the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had directed the
authority to come up with measures to assist the airlines.
He said, “It is a huge
problem for us as a regulatory body but we can get out of this working
together. The regulator, service providers, must work together because if we
don’t do that, it will be a total disaster.”
Credit: shipsandports
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