The Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON has denied owing the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, any cost recovery charges, saying all regulatory services rendered by the NCAA to domestic airlines are paid for in advance, under “cash-before-service basis.”
The domestic airline operators are reacting to the now-suspended “no-pay, no-service” directive by the NCAA over alleged outstanding statutory remittances by some airlines.
It says “in practice, no domestic airline in Nigeria receives NCAA regulatory services without first making the full payment of invoices issued to it by the NCAA.
This long-standing policy and procedure remains firmly in place. Consequently, suggestions that domestic airline operators are indebted to the NCAA for regulatory services are factually inaccurate.”
According to the AON, what the NCAA described as outstanding debts relates only to the five percent Ticket Sales Charge, TSC, which it described as a tax imposed on passengers and collected through airlines.
In a statement on Monday, the operators called on the Federal Government to amend the Civil Aviation Act to allow the authority collect its charges directly from passengers instead of through Airlines.
The association also accused the NCAA of attempting to regulate operators through media publications, describing the move as misleading and unacceptable.
It says “these publications are not only misleading but represent a worrisome and unacceptable attempt to use the media to regulate operators outside the established regulatory framework.”
AON maintained that the NCAA should function strictly as a regulatory body and not as a revenue-generating agency of government.
They decried existing “multiple taxes”, charges and levies from aviation agencies including FAAN and NAMA, amid rising operational costs and global economic pressures linked to the Iran-Israel/USA crisis, saying they would not accommodate more.
(Editor: Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie)
