The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barr Festus Keyamo, on Monday ordered the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to suspend its planned increase of navigational charges in airports nationwide.
The minister, in a statement issued by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of NAMA, Abdullahi Musa, stated that the directive was based on the government’s recognition of the current economic challenges faced by Nigerians.
The minister harped on the need for further consultation before increasing the navigational charges, in view of the plight of air travellers and other Nigerians in the face of economic challenges.
It would be recalled that last Friday, NAMA announced its intention to raise navigation charge by 800 per cent, a fiscal proposal that continued to generate controversies in the public space, particularly among air passengers and stakeholders in the aviation sector.
The agency raised en-route navigational charges from N6,000 to N18,000 and N54,000 per flight and also increased the extension of hours of service to airlines from N50,000 to 450,000 per extension to enable it recover the cost of diesel and other logistics during the period of extension.
The agency’s Managing Director, Engr. Umar Ahmed Farouk, announced the planned review of the charges at the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondent (LAAC) seminar with the theme ‘Aviation Survivability amidst a Challenging Macro-Economic Environment’ held in Lagos.
Before then, the NAMA and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had last January met with airline operators under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to review the old N16,000 Terminal Enroute Navigational Charges (TNS).
