Nigerian airlines move to scrap 5 percent ticket sales charge

Nigerian airline operators have launched their strongest ever public attack on the five percent Ticket Sales Charge that is added to every ticket sold.

Air Peace Chairman Allen Onyema and United Nigeria Airlines Chairman Obiorah Okonkwo spoke at the 30th Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, calling for the charge to be scrapped or changed to a fixed figure.

Onyema said the percentage charge was constricting operators and making it harder for indigenous carriers to survive.

He said Nigeria had seen at least 62 commercial airlines collapse or default since independence, and part of the blame lay with the accumulation of taxes, levies and charges.

Industry executives speaking to reporters on the sidelines said the five percent deduction in combination with other charges was eroding margins, despite increases in passenger numbers.

The operators want President Bola Tinubu to intervene directly, saying they believed a presidential directive would help overcome the impasse with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

Aviation correspondents present at the conference said the criticism was unusual in that it came from across different airlines.

Operators have also shared internal cost analysis documents with each other showing how the charge is compounded when tickets are sold via multiple channels.

The move comes at a time of improved passenger traffic but thin operating profits for many carriers.

Whether the government will change the percentage charge to a simpler structure is unclear, but airlines have made it clear that the issue is existential for their survival.

The pressure is now on the government and aviation regulators to decide if the percentage charge can be sustained in an industry that has a number of other operating costs.