Nigerian Airline operators have said that they have only three days to shutdown operations due to the lack of aviation fuel to run their operations.
This was stated by Air Peace Chairman, Allen Onyema while speaking at a meeting of oil marketers and airline operators at the National Assembly.
Onyema who represented airline operators said that airlines cannot afford fuel anymore due to the skyrocketing prices.
Airline operators are also demanding operational licenses from the Federal Government to begin fuel importation.
‘We have only three more days, all airlines in Nigeria will shut down. We are not threatening this country, it is a fact,” Onyema said.
”I have the mandate of all airlines to demand that Airlines begin importation of fuel, if we can buy planes of millions of dollars, we can also import fuel ourselves. Let NNPC give Airlines licenses, we want to import ourselves.”
He said that if airlines continue to fly, that economy ticket would hit N120,000.
Aviation fuel has surged above N600 from a recent price of N190.
Also, in attendance at the NNPC CEO, Mele Kyari and other stakeholders.
Oil marketers in their presentation said that the high cost of fuel is as a result of high dollar rate. However, the Deputy speaker of the House who chaired the committee asked them how much they purchased the dollar and at which banks, but oil marketer’s representatives couldn’t give an answer.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari said that 19 oil companies currently have 88 million litres of aviation fuel in the country.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
