Multiple Taxation Responsible For High Cost Of Airline Tickets – Operators

Stakeholders in the nation’s aviation sector have attributed the increase in the ticket fare on local routes to multiple taxation in the sector.

According to them, there are series of repetitious taxes paid by airline operators to federal government and its agencies.

The airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), said local airlines pay over 20 taxes on every ticket purchased by travellers.

The group, however, called for a review and reconciliation of taxes on each air ticket as some of them are mere repetitions, saying unless there is a reduction in taxes and charges, increase in ticket price will continue.

The public relations officer, AON, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, said, “as long as the government does not understand the importance of aviation and make the appropriate investments in the sector, investments like creating the enabling environment for the aviation sector to survive, which means access to single digit capital, reduction in all the charges and taxes that impact negatively on air travel business, we will still see increases in ticket prices.

“It is on International Air Travel Association (IATA’s), record that Nigeria still has the highest cost of aviation services. Every airline here pays higher than what is even paid by their peers in the western world, and we the local operators are victims of these,” he said.

Noting that the taxes are just too many, the United Nigeria Airline boss said, “for every ticket that we sell, we have about 20 to 22 deductions. Some are even repetitions. We have been crying out and no one is even asking to know what the issues are and how to resolve them. We are worried about it and if nothing is done, and quickly too, the factors militating against the sector are not turning out right for the country.”

Also, a former managing director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Capt. Roland Iyayi, said that charges, taxes and levies from Nigeria are one of the highest anywhere in the world.

According to him, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in one of its submissions about two decades ago, rated Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest charges and levies in the world.

Iyayi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TopBrass Airlines, regretted that 20 years later, the charges remain the same.

He attributed these to the quick collapse of Nigerian airlines and urged the government to reverse some of its levies on the airlines in order to encourage growth in the sub-sector.