Airlines operating in Nigeria may shut down operations in coming weeks over the frustration they face in the hands of the Nigeria Customs Service and the crash of the naira against the dollar, the Chairman, Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said on Thursday.
Air Peace is Nigeria’s largest commercial carrier involved in domestic and international operations.
Onyema, who spoke in Abuja while receiving the second Embraer 195-E2 aircraft of Air Peace, also revealed that about 20 airplanes of the airline that were flown abroad for maintenance had remained trapped in various countries due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
He further observed that but for the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, the airlines would have shut down their various operations in Nigeria last week.
On why the carriers were contemplating a nationwide shutdown, he said this was because the NCS was not complying fully with Federal Government’s law on waiver for airlines.
