Aviation Sector Needs More Financial Support To Recover - FAAN

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) disclosed on Thursday at the 25th Annual Conference and Awards ceremony organized by the League of Aviation and Airports Correspondents (LAAC) in Lagos, that the Aviation industry needs more relief and financial intervention from the Federal Government to recover from the effect Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the statement released by the Managing Director, FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu on Thursday 29 July, "the recovery of the aviation industry would take a minimum of 24 months before it can bounce back from the effect of the Covid-19."

The Managing Director during the conference tagged, the conference is Nigeria Aviation Industry: Management, Policy, and Regulations;" says, all the aviation agencies and other support services in the industry need urgent assistance to improve their operations.

 “Without financial relief, I do not see a quick recovery. We need an aggressive policy and we need to do more on implementation that is very aggressive. As you are aware, the pandemic has put the global economy to the test, with air transport being undoubtedly the hardest hit by the pandemic. This is coming as statistics from the International Airline Transport Association (IATA) on COVID-19’s economic impact on Nigeria have revealed a revenue loss of 994 million dollars in 2020. In terms of employment at risk in Nigeria, it is 125,370, and loss of contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 885 million dollars.” Rabiu Yadudu.

He stressed that” the Federal Government was able to cushion the effect of COVID-19 by providing intervention funds of N5 billion to domestic airlines; funds considered paltry to save airlines from their precarious situation.

 “The devastating effects of COVID-19 on airlines and the aviation industry at large, stating that Nigeria was not excluded from the pandemic. “A lot had been said about airlines in the country as lack of good regulations, policies had been blamed for many problems confronting the sector”. “Things are developing and we hope it will be better but why are airlines failing? Can it be from the airlines themselves and other factors?” Says Chairman of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema.

Onyema concluded that “Government policies in the recent past had been better compared to what we had in the past. “The present government has done well in the area of policy such as customs duty waiver on aircraft spare parts and VAT (Value Added Tax) and others that are favorable to the airlines.”

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