BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
The Federal Competiton and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has kicked against the planned suspension of domestic flights' on Monday by Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) over the high cost of jet fuel.
To this end, the commission implored domestic airlines to consider the effect of the proposed shutdown on passengers and the magnitude of difficulties and hardship associated with such an action.
Domestic airlines had on Friday informed Nigerians over its proposed plans to shut down all scheduled services indefinitely, effective Monday, May 9 due to the rising cost of jet fuel that currently sells at N700 per litre.
President of AON, Abdulmunaf Yunusa, in a memo endorsed by nine other airline operators said that the government’s earlier intervention in the aviation fuel crisis had failed to forestall imminent collapse, with Jet-A1 scaling the N500 per litre benchmark.
The signatories to the memo were the Executive Director of Max Air, Shehu Wada; Chairman, United Nigeria Airlines, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo; CEO of Ibom Air, Capt. Mfon Udom; CEO of Arik Air, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu; his counterpart in Aero Contractors, Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood; MD of Azman Air, Faisal Abdulmunaf; CEO of Overland Airways, Capt. Edward Boyo; Deputy CEO of Dana Air, Sukh Mann, and Chairman of Air Peace airline, Allen Onyema.
He stated that no airline would sustain its operations with the exorbitant jet fuel and high cost of operations, yet continue to offer subsidised airfares to the travelling public.
Yunusa said that aviation fuel price had in about 12 months risen from N190 per litre to N700 currently. He added: “No airline in the world can absorb this kind of sudden shock from such an astronomical rise over a short period. While aviation fuel worldwide is said to cost about 40 per cent of an airline’s operating cost globally, the present hike has shut Nigeria’s operating cost to about 95 per cent."
“In the face of this, airlines have engaged the federal government, the National Assembly, NNPC and oil marketers with the view to bringing the cost of Jet-A1 down which has currently made the unit cost per seat for a one-hour flight in Nigeria today to an average of N120, 000. The latter cannot be fully passed to passengers, who are already experiencing a lot of difficulties."
A statement made available to newsmen by the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera revealed that the commission would not trivialise the disruption and potential challenge their actions would pose to businesses coupled with other rising cost of operations and foreign exchange.
He said that FCCPC has been in talks with the leadership of major fuel marketers to understand the global supply challenges and possible steps to ameliorate same.
Accordingly, the commission has advocated engagement among all stakeholders across the value chain to mitigate the current constraints and develop an acceptable interim arrangement to address problems and costs associated with global supply constraints on account of war, sanctions associated with the war, and a fragile ongoing post- pandemic recovery in aviation.
He was worried over the rising consumer feedback, that airlines have continued to sell tickets beyond the date announced for the proposed service shutdown.
The statement added, "To the extent that this is accurate, and the airlines have decided and are resolute, it will be egregious exploitation of consumers and a violation of law to purport to sell a service that the service provider knows it will not, or does not intend to provide or deliver. It is misleading and deceptive under Section 123 of the FCCPA to represent that a service will be delivered on a certain date when the provider knows the same is false or improbable."
The FCCPC boss is optimistic that airline operators would not deliberately sell tickets for flights they do not intend to operate, and is as such hopeful that a solution short of a shutdown would emerge accordingly.
He said the commission would consistently monitor the sensitive and evolving situation and remains committed to supporting engagements that would provide solutions and stability.
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