Reps appeal to AON to suspend action
The House of Representatives has appealed to indigenous airlines to halt their plan to ground operations from Monday due to the high cost of Jet A1, which has risen to N700 per litre in the local market.
Nnolim Nnaji, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation on Saturday, promised that the House of Representatives would intervene on the issue.
Nnaji regretted that despite the last intervention of the leadership of the House of Representatives, Aviation and other relevant committees, the problem remained unabated, but assured the airlines that his committee and indeed the house leadership were not sleeping over their plight.
He stated that the House of Reps leadership had already summoned a meeting of the stakeholders including the chairmen of the relevant committees of the House to a meeting on Monday, May 9, 2022 to address their matter.
Nnaji lauded the operators for their patriotism and further urged them not to ground their operations, lamenting that such act would inflict more pain on an already distressed economy.
He added:”The National Assembly is determined to ensure that the aviation fuel crisis is urgently resolved because air transportation has become the safest mode of travel.
“It is equally the catalyst of economic development so we cannot afford to entertain any disruptions in the sector especially now that election process is ongoing.”
The operators had on Friday, May 6, 2022, issued a notice of shutting down their operations over the hike in aviation fuel which has now risen to N700 a litre thereby shooting their costs of operations to 95 percent.
This was contained in a letter signed by the AON President, Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina.
