Experts in the aviation sector have raised concerns over the failure of the Federal Government to put an end to the recurrent aviation fuel scarcity in the country.
For the past six months, airlines operating in Nigeria have continued to grapple with aviation fuel scarcity, which constitutes 35 to 40 percent of airlines’ costs, causing them to delay and cancel flights.
John Ojikutu, secretary-general, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative, (ART) told BusinessDay that “Aviation fuel price is also linked to neglect in repairing the pipelines and failure to revive the Warri refinery’s Jet A1 pipeline –hydrant system for supplying aviation fuel,” Ojikutu said.
Ojikutu said other reasons include the costs of transportation, demurrage on the tankers and insufficient number of fuel dispensing trucks.
Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, executive chairman, Arik Air, the largest domestic airline in Nigeria said that with 126 flights daily, the airline needs about 500,000 litres a day of fuel.
BusinessDay’s checks show that the eight domestic airlines operating in Nigeria need about 1.2million litres of aviation fuel daily, while about 21 international airlines operating in the country need approximately 1.8million litres of aviation fuel daily.
This shows that for both international and local airlines operating in Nigeria, N660million is spent daily on fuel.
Scarcity of aviation fuel which persisted yesterday caused delays of flights from Lagos to various destinations, leaving several passengers who booked Arik Air stranded.
Routes affected are Lagos, Abuja, Asaba, Benin, Port Harcourt, Kano and Uyo.
Some passengers had to wait for the airline to resolve the issue, while others who could not wait, travelled to their destinations by road.
Some passengers had to wait for the airline to resolve the issue, while others who could not wait, travelled to their destinations by road.
Experts say that Arik Air, which is the largest domestic carrier in Nigeria ,is by its size and destinations, unofficially fulfiling the functions of a national carrier. They say government should come up with policies that will help the airline survive and provide a conducive environment to operate.
Nogie Meggison, president, Airline Operators of Nigeria, called on the Federal Government to intervene in the issue by ensuring that it revives the Warri Refinery’s Jet A1 pipeline –hydrant system for the supply of aviation fuel.
Nogie Meggison, president, Airline Operators of Nigeria, called on the Federal Government to intervene in the issue by ensuring that it revives the Warri Refinery’s Jet A1 pipeline –hydrant system for the supply of aviation fuel.
This development is coming as the government of neighbouring Ghana a few weeks ago reduced the price of aviation fuel by 20 percent, in a bid to make Ghana’s aviation sector attractive to investors.
BusinessDay’s findings show that operators in the Nigerian aviation industry may have lost at least N45 billion in revenue to aviation fuel scarcity from April to June when fuel situations worsened.
The figure was arrived at based on losses incurred due to flight delays and in some cases outright cancellations.
The figure was arrived at based on losses incurred due to flight delays and in some cases outright cancellations.
Ifeoma Okeke
