Most Airline Charges, Levies Not Imposed By Aviation Authorities –NCAA
Fred Omotara, Lagos
The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu stated that the majority of the airline charges and levies imposed on indigenous and foreign airlines are not from aviation agencies or industry companies.
Nuhu stated this over the weekend in Abuja in an interview with newsmen.
Nuhu, reacting to the claim of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that Abuja and Lagos airports are the most expensive for airlines in terms of levies and charges with 27 charges, said that a lot of these charges are from the cargo area.
He posited that while some of these charges are genuine, others are illegal and have nothing to do with aeronautical charges.
He, however, posited that aviation agencies are looking at the way they could consolidate, streamline and merge some of the charges to make operations cheaper for the airline operators.
According to him, the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development had established a committee to look at these multitudes of revenues to see how they could be streamlined.
He said: “But what we need to understand is that a lot of these charges are not from the aviation agencies, they are more in the cargo area. All sorts of people are illegally making these charges.
“So, aviation will start, at least we will consolidate and see where we can streamline and merge those charges and see what can be done.
“But there are a lot of people and lots of charges have nothing to do with aviation aeronautical charges. It is other organisations that are in the airport that put these charges. Sometimes as Nigerians, we need to all sit down as a team and see the damage we are doing to our country.”
He regretted that these multiple charges were creating a lull for cargo exports and one of the major reasons cargo aircraft depart the country almost empty despite arriving in the country with full freight.
Recall that Mr. Kamil Al Alwadi, the Vice president, of IATA, Africa and Middle East, in his presentation at the Aviation Summit, had categorized Nigerian airports as the most expensive in the world
Alwadi berated the Nigerian government for stiffling airline operations with heavy and sundry taxes and charges.
He lamented the stunted growth in the region, especially Nigeria, calling on the Nigerian government to create a conducive environment for airlines to thrive