Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has lauded the Federal Government over the immediate response in the removal of seven percent surcharge on imported aircraft and spares.
The operators also commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the swift implementation of the directive by the government.
Mr. Allen Onyema, the Vice Chairman of AON, in an interview with aviation journalists on Wednesday in Lagos said the waiver had further boosted the performance of the indigenous airline operators.
Onyema, who is also the Chairman of Air Peace, also frowned at a media distortion of the proceedings in the interactive forum at the Senate on July 6, 2021, when he made presentation on behalf of the airlines on the challenges facing the airline sub-sector in the country.
According to him, an online medium reported the meeting as an issue concerning Air Peace alone and brought ethnic dimension to it, which he described as highly condemnable.
Onyema explained that the Senate Committee on Aviation held an interactive meeting with all aviation agencies in Nigeria led by the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, together with all Nigerian airlines represented by the AON leadership in which he represented the association as vice president and made presentation on behalf of the body.
“The meeting was called by the Senate to discuss the reasons for the recent upsurge in flight delays and flight cancellations amongst other issues and challenges facing the aviation industry. It was on this occasion that AON made its presentation of challenges facing all the airlines. Our member airlines were present but we made an articulated collective presentation to the Senate, which I read as the vice chairman on behalf of the association,” he further explained. Read more