AON denies phantom N15bn debt, insists on clarity before automation

After an emergency meeting of Airline Chief Executives, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has come up with their position, stating that AON does not owe the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) N15 billion as claimed by the Authority in a press statement issued to the media on Wednesday.

The airline umbrella body which noted that it is still at loss as to why the NCAA made such a phantom claim publicly, maintained that the recently published breakdown in the media of what airlines owe of each passenger is completely wrong and false.

It stated that airlines don’t pay monthly fixed rate and that the rate is a percentage of the fare paid. AON therefore queried how an airline like Arik Air with 27 airplanes can have a fixed monthly remittance rate of N61, 477,779.69 and Air Peace with an average of 5 airplanes to pay N109, 862,633.84 monthly.

AON also pointed out that even from the phantom breakdown mentioned, 80% of the bills are from airlines that are either out of operation or in receivership with the government today, stressing that a couple of the airlines that make up the phantom numbers are not Nigerian registered airlines such as Cronos and Africa World Airlines (AWA).

“It is obvious that the phantom numbers cannot ad up. We the airlines are working and struggling to stay afloat in a harsh terrain and made to bear the sin of others. NCAA should come out with a true picture of things”.

“AON therefore challenges the NCAA to come open with the breakdown of how it arrived at the phantom bill of N15bn and publish the details of the airlines and what they owe.

Perhaps doing so will erase the negative impression being fed the public as it will reveal that the money they claim airlines owe are owed by airlines that have now either been taken over by government (AMCON) or is a historic debt owed majorly by airlines that have gone out of business over the years due to the harsh environment, unfriendly polices and the continued burden of multiple charges or falsified account that can’t stand the test of an external audit or a law court trial”, AON stated.

“Airlines that currently exist do not owe a fraction of what is being claimed by NCAA if put to test by a world renowned and international audit firm. Moreover, businesses all over the world, including Nigeria as a country, do owe. Owing is not unprecedented anywhere in the world. What matters is that whatever is owed is being serviced.

Most of the current and active 29 AOC operating airlines are servicing their debts as agreed between themselves and the relevant agencies after the usual reconciliations.

The AON therefore offered to pay for an independent Auditing firm at its own expense; such as KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, or Deloitte and Touché, to audit NCAA as an organisation, and the N15bn NCAA claims airlines owe.

“We therefore encourage the NCAA to take advantage of this offer and open its books for this Audit to take place so the general public which we believe have been misinformed will get the true picture of the real situation.

The exaggeration by NCAA is tarnishing to the good image of the airlines and as such, AON is unhappy with this unfortunate, damaging and misleading pronouncement by the NCAA”, AON stated.

On the issue of automation, AON is demanding clarity of the process; who is behind the private third party being engaged by NCAA to do the automation, just as it enquired why NCAA needs a private third party company to collect its money.

“These cloudy issues need to be cleared first by the NCAA before talking about automation”, the airline operators noted.