Foreign airlines are navigating stormy skies over Nigeria as mounting currency challenges threaten to ground their operations.
Speculations loom large as these carriers contemplate a departure from Nigeria, mirroring a disheartening trend of multinational exits from the country in recent times.
In a financial quagmire, foreign airlines collect Naira for ticket sales to Nigerian customers but grapple with an insurmountable obstacle when attempting to convert these earnings into foreign currencies.
The scarcity of forex resources within the official foreign exchange market has become an operational nightmare, with over $792 million trapped in Nigeria.
The conundrum reached a point where even presidential intervention failed to untangle the knot.
President Bola Tinubu directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to initiate quarterly reconciliatory meetings with foreign airlines to address the backlog.
However, this initiative yielded no tangible results, with neither meetings nor funds released to the beleaguered airlines.
One prominent casualty in this financial quagmire is Emirates Airlines, the UAE’s flag carrier, which exited Nigeria’s airspace last year and has shown no inclination to return despite interventions at the highest level.
The strategic move to close lower fare inventory to Nigerian travel agents further underscores the severity of the crisis, as airlines strive to mitigate losses and reduce the backlog.
Travellers from Nigeria face exorbitant costs for international flights, paying approximately N2.5 million for economy tickets to London’s Heathrow airport.
This steep pricing, exacerbated by currency challenges, creates an uneven playing field compared to other countries in the region.
The situation has prompted the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to call on the Nigerian government to urgently address the crisis before the airlines reach a breaking point.
Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa & the Middle East, emphasized the urgency of engagement between stakeholders.
He called for the Nigerian government to take the matter seriously, emphasizing that the airlines lack the cash to expand their operations, signaling a potential tipping point for these carriers.
As the aviation industry grapples with a precarious financial landscape, the decision of foreign airlines to exit Nigeria’s airspace looms large, leaving a trail of uncertainty and disruption in its wake.