NAMA, NCAA meet airlines over planned review of N16, 000 navigational charges

• TNC introduced in 2007 to boost agency’s revenue

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) held a strategic meeting with some airline operators under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to review what has been described as the outdated N16,000 Terminal Enroute Navigational Charges (TNS).

The meeting held in Abuja was called at the instance of the NCAA and NAMA to get the understanding of the airlines on the review of the rate which the airlines admitted needed to be reviewed.

A source who was at the meeting told Aviation Metric that currently, airlines pay N16,000 TNC to NAMA per hour any time a commercial aircraft takes off which amounts to a distance of Lagos-Abuja for instance. Most routes in Nigeria are approximately an hour by air.

The last time TNC was raised was in 2007 which NAMA feels its review was long overdue, hinting that while TNC had remained the same since 2008, airlines have adjusted airfares by over 600 percent since 2008 when tickets were sold for between N18,000 and N20000.

One-hour economy air ticket costs between N90,000 and N120,000 depending on the airline and time of purchase. In some cases, they are as high as N150,000 depending on the routes if there is a monopoly.

When contacted, the Managing Director of NAMA, Umar Ahmed Farouk confirmed the meeting with the operators but did not disclose details of the encounter.

He however said that the review was long overdue considering the prevailing economic situation in the country and the need for the airspace agency to maintain its facilities across the country given the maintenance of air safety and the costs of deploying its equipment across the country.

Recall that NAMA introduced terminal navigation charges in January 2007 when Mr Roland Iyayi held sway as Managing Director

The agency claimed then that the implementation would ensure that airline operators and other users of navigational aids pay for the modern navigation aids being acquired by NAMA.

Iyayi said the policy would boost the organisation’s revenue.

 He explained that the charges were necessary in the interest of sustainability of the modern systems that NAMA was putting in place to enhance safety in the nation’s airspace NAMA was putting in place, facilities that would enable aircraft land at the major international airports.

The idea was initially rejected by the former General Secretary of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Mohammed Joji, at the customers’ forum organised by NAMA but later accepted by the airlines.

Wole Shadare