Airline operators threaten to sue FG over multiple entry points granted foreign airlines

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) says it will sue the federal government over multiple entry points granted to foreign airlines.

Yunusa Abdulmunaf, president of AON, said this at the association’s first quarter breakfast business meeting in Lagos on Thursday.

The event, organised by the Aviation Round Table (ART), was themed ‘Economic Implications of Multiple Entry Points by Foreign Airlines Into Nigeria’. 

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, had earlier said that although the multiple entries granted to foreign airlines were good for the economy, the development was putting pressure on the country’s foreign exchange.

Abdulmunaf, who was represented by Allen Onyema, vice-president of AON, said the body would meet with the aviation minister to deliberate on the issue. 

He said if the policy was sustained, foreign airlines would eventually take over the domestic market.

“We are talking about the scarcity of foreign exchange in the country, but the foreign airlines are removing billions of dollars every year from this country,” NAN quoted Abdulmunaf as saying. 

“Whereas, airlines in the country have been hassled with lots of requests on how to repatriate dollars into the system. Where am I going to get it from?

“Yet, we are creating more avenues for these things to happen by giving multiple destinations to these foreign airlines.

“All the foreign airlines that come to this country, maybe about 20 or 30 of them, have not been able to employ more than 150,000 Nigerians.”

Abdulmunaf noted that Air Peace alone employs over 4,000 people directly, adding that it would take foreign airlines another 60 years to create 4,000 jobs.

Also speaking, Gabriel Olowo, president of ART, said foreign airlines were progressively taking over the domestic space with continuous approvals for multiple entries.

“The damages of multiple entries into Nigeria is huge. Britain for instance has 21 flights into Nigeria weekly,” Olowo said. 

“European Unions have 43 frequencies every week into Nigeria. Also, the Middle East has 56 flights weekly into multiple entries into Nigeria.”

According to Olowo, as things are today, the country has zero participation in the international sector as an industry and the domestic sector was eroded through multiple entries into Nigeria.