Airlines, ground handlers head for showdown over N9bn debt

Airline operators in Nigeria have lost over N150 billion within two months, as a deepening standoff with ground handling companies over N9 billion in unpaid debts threatens to ground flights across the country.

A member of the Board of Trustees of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, Roland Iyayi, raised the alarm at the weekend, warning that operators were approaching breaking point.

“Airlines have bled over N150bn in two months. Where is the money going to come from? It’s gotten to a point where nobody can threaten anybody any longer,” he said.

Iyayi cautioned that any disruption to airline operations would ultimately hurt all stakeholders in the aviation sector, insisting that ground handling firms cannot survive without the airlines they serve.

“If airlines don’t exist, they don’t have a business. Nobody cares about the airlines; everybody wants to collect money,” he said, adding that no operator could be compelled to produce funds they simply do not have.

He further dismissed threats of service withdrawal as counterproductive. “Without the airlines, you can’t be where you are. What are we meeting for? To make promises we can’t keep? If anything at all, the airlines have to survive first before the ground handling companies can even have any future as a business,” Iyayi said.

The Chairman of the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria, Olaniyi Adigun, however, said the association was weighing its next steps in line with labour law, and that a planned press conference would outline its strategy.

“Although some of them have started paying, the majority have not. But that does not call off the strike,” he said.

Adigun indicated that the association could escalate its action after the expiration of its seven-day ultimatum if airlines failed to meet its demands, noting that labour law permits a further three-day notice before industrial action. “We have our minds set. We are just following the law,” he said.

Another airline operator, who spoke anonymously citing lack of authorisation, urged restraint, warning that the timing of the dispute could worsen Nigeria’s already fragile economy. ”

As a nation, we cannot afford for our airlines to go down now because it’s going to create a lot of problems. I think the ground handlers will need to be patient and find a way to get into a dialogue, because dialogue is the only way forward,” the source said.

The crisis follows an earlier ultimatum issued by the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria, which threatened to withdraw essential services from domestic carriers over the outstanding N9 billion debt, raising fears of widespread flight disruptions.

The association said repeated efforts to recover the funds had yielded little progress, with payment commitments by airlines largely unmet.