FEATURES Archives - Aviation metric

Flying on Borrowed Time, Money Amid Respite

Posted on May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The “No-Pay-No-Service” list underscores the brutal structural asymmetry of running an airline in Nigeria: earning in Naira while burning in Dollars. The directive has fundamentally shifted the conversation from a routine regulatory dispute to a stark exposure of the structural vulnerabilities undermining Nigerian domestic aviation, writes WOLE SHADARE For years, the industry regulator, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has played the patient parent, issuing ultimatums, extending deadlines, and pleading for financial transparency. But patience has…

Nigeria’s Domestic Aviation Paradox

Posted on May 19, 2026May 19, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Nigeria’s domestic airspace is witnessing an unprecedented paradox: commercial capacity is under strain, yet the rush to launch new airlines has reached a fever pitch, writes WOLE SHADARE In a rare display of regional synergy, Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba, and Yobe states have pooled N30 billion to birth the North-East Air Shuttle. The goal is connectivity; linking an underserved, economically critical region directly to the federal grid. Ebonyi State has entered the fray with Ebonyi…

Jet Fuel Crisis: Rano Air Blinks First

Posted on May 12, 2026May 12, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The recent decision by Rano Air to suspend select flight routes is not merely a strategic pivot by a single carrier; it is a loud, distressing alarm for an industry on the brink, writes WOLE SHADARE Rano Air’s decision to scale back its operations is the latest domino to fall in a crisis fueled by an astronomical spike in Jet A1 fuel prices, prompting industry experts to sound the alarm about the future of domestic travel. On…

MMA2: How diplomacy succeeded over litigation

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Wole Shadare

For the Nigerian aviation industry, the end of this imbroglio is more than just a settlement; it is the removal of a sovereign risk tag that has kept international airport investors away from the shores for two decades, writes WOLE SHADARE For two decades, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2) stood as both a monument to Nigerian ingenuity and a tombstone for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). It was a “Cold War” fought not with tanks, but…

Aviation fuel volatility: Nigerian carriers on life support

Posted on April 28, 2026April 28, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Nigerian aviation industry, often described as the local economy’s barometer, is currently screaming “Mayday,” writes WOLE SHADARE What began as a turbulent climb in operational costs has rapidly devolved into a free fall, leaving domestic carriers gasping for air as the price of Jet A1—aviation fuel—skyrockets to an unprecedented N3,300 per litre. For an industry where fuel typically accounts for 40% of operational costs, this 300% surge from just N900 in February 2024 has turned…

Decoding Nigeria’s 20-Year Civil Aviation Master Plan

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Civil Aviation Master Plan (CAMP) 2025–2045 is more than a policy document; it is a twenty-year survival guide for an industry that has long struggled with inconsistency, writes WOLE SHADARE The Nigerian aviation industry stands at a critical inflexion point. Long hampered by fragmented planning and systemic inefficiencies, the sector is now transitioning toward a period of institutionalised growth. The catalyst for this change is the Civil Aviation Master Plan (CAMP) 2025–2045, a strategic mandate…

Obsolete Radar: Ticking Time Bomb, Govt’s swift intervention

Posted on April 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The clock is ticking. The question is: will we fix the radar before the screen goes blank? asks, WOLE SHADARE For a pilot cruising at 35,000 feet, the silent partnership between the cockpit and the ground is the bedrock of safety. But in Nigeria, that partnership is fraying at the edges. Behind the high-tech jargon and the polished glass of Air Traffic Control (ATC) towers lies a harrowing reality: the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON)…

Push to de-risk Nigerian aviation market for global investors

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Nigeria Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit (NAAIS) 2026, which concluded In Lagos last week, the visit provided a strategic reset for the country’s aviation sector. Moving away from the high-cost model of outright aircraft purchases, it introduced a structured leasing and financing frameworks designed to de-risk the Nigerian market for global investors, writes WOLE SHADARE Orchestrated by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the Nigeria Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit (NAAIS)…

Beyond The Wire: The vulnerability of Nigerian airports’ perimeter fencing

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The age-long commitment to securing Nigeria’s airport perimeters has become a saga of shifting deadlines, budget cycles, and evolving security threats. For decades, the Federal Government has identified perimeter fencing as a top priority. The government has now categorised such projects as a priority, writes WOLE SHADARE The recent security incident at Akure Airport has indeed reignited the long-standing debate over the underbelly of Nigerian aviation: perimeter security. The breach, which occurred around March 15,…

Air Finance: Breaking the African risk premium

Posted on March 17, 2026March 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

With the AfDB and Afreximbank acting as the first loss guarantors, the private sector is finally finding the courage to invest in African skies, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the story of African aviation has been written in red ink, hampered by a risk premium that forced local carriers to pay up to 25% more for aircraft than their global peers. But as of March 2026, the script is being rewritten. A new, continent-wide financial policy…

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