The Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Obiora Okonkwo, has questioned the value airlines receive in return for the numerous payments they make to government agencies and other service providers, saying operators often do not get commensurate value for the charges imposed on them.
Okonkwo raised the concern in his special remarks at the 30th Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), themed, “Towards a Sustainable Aviation Industry: Balancing Government Revenue Demands with Sector Growth.”
The airline chairman said the growing focus on revenue generation across the aviation industry has overshadowed a more fundamental question of whether airlines are receiving adequate services and infrastructure in return for the various taxes, levies, fees and charges they pay.
“When people talk about money that is not remitted or not paid by the operators, they don’t talk about how much they are paid by the operators.Apart from the fact that we pay so much that we are not supposed to pay, we don’t get value enough for what we pay.”,Okonkwo said.
Okonkwo urged government agencies and other aviation service providers to examine the relationship between the charges imposed on airlines and the quality of services delivered to operators.
According to him, the sustainability of the aviation industry should not be measured only by how much revenue government and other stakeholders collect from airlines, but also by the value created for operators, passengers and the wider economy.
Okonkwo also renewed his call for the removal of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC), arguing that the charge places a significant burden on airlines already operating under difficult financial conditions.
“When you talk about five per cent of any person’s business, you know what it is to be a five per cent owner in somebody’s business? The business has all the money to run. The business has sleepless nights to run. It’s too much for anybody to get next out of it,” he said.
He maintained that the campaign for the removal of the charge should continue.
“The call for the removal of this five per cent must not stop. It must continue until we remove it,” Okonkwo said.
He stressed that airlines also have other taxes and operational expenses to contend with, making the cumulative financial burden heavier.
The airline chairman also expressed concern over the implementation of a 30 per cent waiver which he said President Bola Tinubu had approved for airline operators following appeals by the industry. According to him, the relief has not been implemented as expected.He questioned the explanation that implementation was awaiting a gazette.
“Even with the 30 per cent Mr President has approved for the airline operators, they are not being implemented and when you ask, they will tell you there is no Gazette. Does that really add up? Is the executive order of the President not good enough?” he queried.
He called for the implementation of the relief, saying measures intend to reduce the financial pressure on airlines should translate into actual benefits for operators.
Okonkwo also called for a balance between passenger protection and the financial survival of airlines, warning that policies designed to protect passengers could become counterproductive if they weaken operators.
“We are all on the side of passengers. But you cannot do it because you want to please the passengers, kill the airlines,” he said.
According to him, airlines are central to the entire aviation ecosystem, including government agencies, airports, financial institutions and other service providers.
“Let it be known that without airlines, you’re going to have so many enemies. The agencies will have no job to do. The biggest thing is: how do we protect the airline? How do we protect the industry?” he asked.
He said the survival of airlines should therefore be treated as a collective interest because the collapse of operators would have consequences for the entire sector.
“If the agencies succeed, we succeed. But if we fail, there will be no agency,” he said.
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