The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) said it is not indebted to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The umbrella body of indigenous airlines, in a statement yesterday, insisted that all regulatory services rendered by the NCAA were fully paid for in advance by the operators.

The AON also accused the NCAA of misleading the public, claiming that airlines owed the agency for services rendered.

It further accused the authority of using the media to regulate operators outside the established regulatory framework.

The positions were contained in a statement by the President of the AON, Abdulmunafi Sarina.

Sarina insisted that every regulatory service provided by the NCAA, including crew licence validations, aircraft inspections and documentation renewal, was invoiced and paid for before it was rendered.

The statement read in part: “For clarity, the NCAA issues an invoice for every regulatory service it provides, whether for the validation of crew operating licences, aircraft inspections, documentation renewals or any other service within its regulatory mandate.

“Operators are then required to settle all such invoices in advance, and compliance is strictly observed before the NCAA renders any regulatory service.

“‎In practice, no domestic airline in Nigeria receives NCAA regulatory services without first making the full payment of invoices issued to it by the NCAA. This long-standing policy and procedure remain firmly in place. Consequently, suggestions that domestic airline operators are indebted to the NCAA for regulatory services are factually inaccurate.”

According to the AON, the purported outstanding obligations related only to the five per cent ticket sales charge (TSC), which it described as a tax imposed on passengers and not payment for regulatory services rendered to the operators.

According to Sarina, several airlines operate dedicated accounts from which the NCAA draws its monthly remittances. He noted that the ongoing financial strain in the aviation sector, worsened by the Iran-Israel/United States conflict and rising Jet A1 fuel prices, had negatively affected operators’ cash flow.

The body expressed that it had earlier appealed to the Federal Government through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, for a temporary suspension of statutory aviation charges to ease the burden on airlines.

It said President Bola Tinubu had earlier approved a 30 per cent concession as an interim relief measure, while discussions on requests were still ongoing.

The AON, however, insisted that the NCAA should operate strictly as a regulatory agency rather than a revenue-generating institution.

AON added: “Every service it provides to airline operators is fully paid for in advance before it is rendered.”

AON further called on the Federal Government to amend the Civil Aviation Act to empower the NCAA to collect its charges directly from passengers, instead of routing such collections through airlines.

The association noted that at the time, Nigeria Airways was exempted from the charge, while only foreign airlines were required to pay the charges.

The AON further emphasised that despite the evolution of the aviation sector and the emergence of several agencies, including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), domestic airlines are still burdened with multiple taxes, levies and charges.

AON urged the Federal Government to take urgent policy measures to protect the sector, describing it as the driver of economic growth and national development.