FG Shifts International Flights Resumption To Sept 5, FAAN Laments 95% Revenue Drop

FG Shifts International Flights Resumption To Sept 5, FAAN Laments 95% Revenue Drop
By Our Correspondent
The Federal Government on Thursday shifted the resumption date for the commencement of international flights into and out of Nigeria from August 29 to September 5.
 Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had announced on August 17 that international flights would resume on August 29 following pressures from the public for the resumption of the flights.
But at Thursday’s briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, declared that international flights would not resume as earlier announced.
He said September 5 was picked as the new date for international flights resumption, stressing that there were still issues to be sorted out before allowing international carriers to operate into and out of Nigeria.
When Sirika announced that international flights into and out of Nigeria would resume on August 29, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had stated that the date was not sacrosanct.
But Nuhu said on Thursday  the new September 5 date was sacrosanct, as everything was being done to ensure that operations resume next week Saturday
Meanwhile the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN on Thursday said its revenue had dropped by over 95 per cent in the wake of the lockdown declared to curtail further spread of COVID-19.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Rabiu Yadudu, said this at a press conference in Abuja while responding to a question on why FAAN decided to effect a 100 per cent increase in Passenger Service Charge at this time. The increase of PSC from N1,000 to N2,000 per passenger for domestic flights, Yadudu said, would take effect from September 1 and had been communicated to all airlines.
 “The increase is a matter of necessity. Our revenue is down by over 95 percent. In that case, we will do whatever we can legitimately to ensure we carry out our duties.
“We need to survive. There is no better time than now for FAAN to do this,” he said. Describing airport management as capital intensive, Yadudu noted that FAAN had not increased PSC since 2011 despite the huge capital investments at the nation’s airports.”
He said the current N1,000 charge was no longer realistic and that it did not correlate with realities of cost related inflation rate which the Central Bank of Nigeria put at 12.82 per cent.

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