- Najomo hinges Nigeria’s aviation future on transparent procurement system
- MMA2: A Beacon of Hope for Nigerian Airports
- Airline group raises concern over South Africa’s aviation infrastructure
- Turkish Airlines opens largest Int’l lounge at Tokyo Narita Airport
- Kenya Airways begs NCAA over passenger maltreatment
Aviation ground handling firms to raise charges by over 300%

- N70, 000 for B737 no longer sustainable-AGHAN chairman
There are indications that the two major aviation ground handling firms in Nigeria, the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) and the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) will review the ground handling charges for domestic airlines subject to approval by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The worsening macroeconomic challenges in the country have forced ground-handling companies to propose new handling rates for airlines.
Some of the ground handling firms that spoke to Aviation Metric said the charges could be by over 300 per cent to bring the safety threshold charge at par with what is obtainable in other African countries.
There are indications that both NAHCo and SAHCO will address the media next week to announce the new charges that could change from N70,000 for handling B737 which the majority of the country’s airlines operate to between N200,000 and N350, 000 while CRJ and other light aeroplanes may oscillate between N150, 000 and 240, 000.
Many of the handlers said the firms have always faced backlash from airlines whenever they are faced with the dilemma of reviewing charges at a time when domestic carriers have continued to increase fares by over 700 per cent in the last two years while ground handling charges remain the same for more than five years.
They said the proposed review is inevitable with the current economic challenges, especially the foreign exchange crisis and other costs of operation.
At the moment, the firms have kept faith with the rates approved for them since three years ago at N70,000 for B737, and N50,000 for CRJ and Embraer, while Dash 8 was handled at N25,000 per flight, or their equivalents.
The chairman of the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria (AGHAN), the umbrella body of ground handling companies in the country, Mr Olaniyi Adigun who spoke to Aviation Metric at the weekend said with what is happening in the country economically at the moment, there is a need for them to survive.
He said, “The airlines and the ground handling companies are also operating in the same market facing the same economic reality. For AGAN, our job is not to influence the commercial activities of all our members. Our members know their costs, and they know when and what rate to determine. We do not support price fixing. AGHAN is to make sure that there is a conducive environment within our sector of the aviation industry.”
He described the role of AGHAN as an intermediary between the government and industry bodies for things that will benefit the sector. We also see that anything that will project this industry, this sector, is what we stand for. But when it comes to commercial decisions, they are private companies, they have loans, they have staff, they have to buy machines at exorbitant prices.”
“They have to pay government taxes, and they only have a point of duty to guarantee safety before everything about aviation is safety, and safety starts on the ground. I can assure you that at the right time, these ground handling companies will do the needful. I know they are jogging their figures, and I know that they will do the needful. There is no way they can survive at that N70,000. It is unfair”, he added.
Asked if the NCAA would approve the proposed charges, Adigun explained that the aviation regulatory body does not determine what to charge the ground handling firms, adding that what it does and what the law stipulates even internationally, is to submit fares in the case or airlines to the NCAA to look and say it is fare. The same thing he said applies to the charges by the aviation ground handling firms.
“NCAA does not know your cost. They cannot say, you have to sell at this. What the NCAA does is to make sure you don’t take advantage of the situation. Again, the last time that we increased the price, we submitted it in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations to the NCAA and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) saw the justification for it”.
Google+