FG woos foreign airlines with promise to release $300m trapped funds

The Federal Government has begun the process of wooing foreign airlines back to the country with the imminent release of $300 million out of the $600 million ticket sales funds trapped in the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

This release of the funds was made known by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, while briefing State House correspondents on Wednesday after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council.

He also added that facilities at the nation’s airports would be enhanced to encourage foreign airlines to use their best aircrafts on the Nigerian route.

It would be recalled that some foreign airlines had threatened to abandon Nigerian routes due to their inability to repatriate money made from tickets sales in the country, which they said has been affecting their operations.

The minister said: “I did say that these are commercial decisions that the airlines will take but with the way the routes are and with what we have been doing to correct these things, many more of the airlines would have pulled out by now.

“But now as we speak, government, through the CBN, has made available $300 million out of the $600 million of the airlines funds stock in Nigeria to pay the airlines to demonstrate its commitment to the sector.’

“Gradually, we will clear everything and once that happens, they are not going to go anywhere. Nigeria has population of 177 million serving West and Central Africa.”

Read also: Real sector suffers further decline in October – CBN

On the use of aircrafts that government believes is below standard by foreign airlines, the minister said government was talking with them while also striving to improve on the facilities at the airports.

“As regards carriers like Egypt Air, British Airways, Turkish Air who fly in here with undesirable aircraft while they put on other routes better aircraft, despite the fact that the Nigerian routes pay them more, we have been talking to them seriously and ensuring that they change their fleet.

‘’However, some of them are constrained by some of the infrastructure we have in place, for example Emirate.

“Emirate will love to bring the kind of aircraft they fly around the world but the apron in Abuja is not supporting that service. That is why the aircraft they take to Lagos is different from the one they take to Abuja. That inadequacies is also being addressed and once that is done, we will have benefiting aircraft coming. This has always been a challenge.”

Sirika also disclosed that the federal government has appointed a transaction adviser for the proposed new national carrier.

The national carrier is expected to start operation in 2017 with the Federal Government holding a five percent stake and the private sector owning the rest.

Similarly, the minister announced the review of the contract for the rehabilitation of both the local and international wing of the Port Harcourt Airport.

With the review, the minister said the cost of rehabilitating the international wing of the airport has been jerked up from N777,726,669.30 to N1,684,520,310.58 while the refurbishment of the airport terminal building phase II of the domestic wing was jerked up from N746,830,782.12 to N1,411,662,855.67.

He said: ‘’Very soon, we will complete that very important airport, especially the arrival wing.

‘’Port Harcourt airport has been tagged the worst airport in the world but by the grace of God and the wisdom of council, it will be completed.’’

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