The Airline Operators of Nigeria has denied owing the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority any cost recovery charges, insisting that all regulatory services provided to domestic airlines are paid for upfront under a “cash-before-service” arrangement.
The airline operators were reacting to the recently suspended “no-pay, no-service” directive issued by the NCAA over alleged outstanding statutory remittances by some carriers. In a statement signed by spokesperson Onoshiorena Obozeghie, the AON said no domestic airline receives regulatory services from the NCAA without first settling invoices issued by the authority.
According to the association, the disputed payments relate only to the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, TSC, which it described as a passenger tax collected by airlines on behalf of the government. The operators urged the Federal Government to amend the Civil Aviation Act to enable the NCAA collect the charges directly from passengers rather than through airlines.
The AON also accused the NCAA of attempting to regulate operators through media publications, describing the approach as misleading and outside established regulatory procedures. The group maintained that the NCAA should focus strictly on its regulatory responsibilities rather than operating as a revenue-generating agency. The operators further raised concerns over what they described as multiple taxes, levies and charges imposed by aviation agencies, including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, warning that rising operational costs and global economic pressures linked to the Iran-Israel-US crisis are already putting significant strain on the aviation industry.
