FG considers airline debt waiver amid fuel crisis

The Federal Government has announced plans to waive debts owed by domestic airlines to aviation agencies as part of measures to cushion the impact of the ongoing Jet A1 fuel crisis.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed this during a high-level meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, convened to address the astronomical rise in the cost of Jet A1 fuel.

Keyamo said, “I had the privilege of meeting Mr President to brief him about the meeting, and Mr President mandated us to quickly bring a request to him. And the first request that he will consider and grant is a generous discount on the debts the airlines are owing the aviation agencies, NAMA, FAAN, NCAA, and so on.

“The percentage of discounts and all that Mr President will decide, he is so concerned about what is happening. And he asked me in particular to express his deep appreciation to the airline operators. He knows the conditions under which we operate. And he said he should thank you for not raising your prices despite all that has happened. So he has to also respond.”

The minister added that the President would also consider broader reforms to reduce the burden of multiple charges on domestic air travel.

“The second request Mr President has asked that we should bring for him to consider fully and grant is that he wants to set up a committee to address the issues of levies, taxes, and fees on domestic tickets once and for all. This request has been on for a long time. So Mr President will put the team together, and he’ll give them a deadline to report to him as quickly as possible on the government fees and charges and levies that we can take off domestic tickets for now to give respite to Nigerians who are also buying their tickets.

“And of course, he’ll consider a date for the airline operators to meet him one-on-one for the other more robust discussions regarding access to capital and all of that,” he said.

Also speaking at the meeting, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, attributed the crisis in the aviation sector to the sharp increase in the price of aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1.

Onyema said, “Why are we here in the first place? It was because of the astronomical rise of Jet A1 in Nigeria, which we consider not to be proportionate to the rise in the cost of crude oil all over the world. The standard is that if crude oil rises by 10 per cent, the byproduct of crude oil should rise by a proportionate rise in pricing.

“But in Nigeria, after the Hormuz blockade, Nigeria increased (Jet A1 price) by about 300 per cent, and these airlines are bleeding. We are bleeding. Yes, we threatened to shut down, not because we wanted to shut down, but because we had no money anymore to continue to pay for fuel and neglect other things that are supposed to be done in the aviation industry.

“And you know very well that your regime pushes utmost safety, and we don’t want to shorten safety. So we decided that instead of not having money to do other things like maintenance, but only buy the fuel that we needed, to shut down. We appreciate this government.

He added that, “The truth is that the marketers must be brought to book to explain how they got about the 300 per cent increase, when even Dangote is surprised, because what he is selling to us, his product, remains the cheapest. And some of them lifted from there. So why the astronomical rise?.

Onyema said the airlines are happy because the President is very responsive and very listening, adding that “the other time, he removed the four per cent FOB for airlines within 24 hours.”

The Air Peace boss also spoke on the cost of acquiring funding for airlines, stressing that “all over the world, they acquire at three per cent. In Nigeria, we acquire at 30 to 35 per cent. This is killing. That’s why airlines owe FAAN, NCAA, everybody, because we are the sacrificial lambs. So we ask Mr President to please fund the Bank of Industry.”

Airline Operators of Nigeria had earlier threatened to shut down operations nationwide from April 20, 2026, over the soaring cost of Jet A1. The operators said the price of aviation fuel surged from about N900 per litre in late February to over N3,300 per litre within weeks, representing an increase of more than 300 per cent, which they described as unbearable and unsustainable for continued operations.

The airlines warned that if urgent intervention was not made, they would be forced to suspend flights, noting that revenues could no longer cover fuel costs alone. However, in a subsequent development, the operators announced a temporary suspension of the planned shutdown following appeals by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, pending the outcome of their discussions to address the crisis.