The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has raised concerns over the state of Nigeria’s aviation industry, warning that soaring aviation fuel prices and high borrowing costs have pushed domestic airlines to the brink.

Speaking during an exclusive interview on ARISE News on Tuesday, Onyema described the challenges confronting Nigerian carriers as part of a wider global aviation crisis worsened by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

According to him, airlines around the world have been forced to cut operations as costs continue to rise.

“Since the advent of the Israel-Iran war, the aviation world has been adversely affected,” Onyema said.

“You can see that airlines have been closing down, shutting down. Some legacy airlines, some of the biggest airlines have been cutting flights, up to 30,000 flights.”

While acknowledging the global nature of the crisis, Onyema said Nigerian airlines face a far more severe situation because of the dramatic increase in aviation fuel costs.

“The cost of the aviation world was 30% to 40% from what it used to be. Just because of 30%, the result is a huge problem. It’s a trouble to survive.”

“However, in my country, the aviation world has gone beyond 250%. At the time, it was about 300%.”

“So you do the mathematics, and this is what the Nigerian airline is supposed to cap it.”

He said operators are being forced to borrow simply to sustain flight operations.

“No Nigerian airline is smiling now. You take off to go to Abuja, you used to buy fuel for about 3 million on a flight of 4 million. Now it’s about 12 million, 13 million for the same flight.”

Onyema also highlighted the disparity in financing costs between Nigerian airlines and their counterparts in developed markets, arguing that local operators are disadvantaged by high interest rates.

“And mind you, these airlines from the Western world, their funding has, at most, 4% interest rate.”

“Here in Nigeria, we get our funding at about between 29 to 33%”

He said the combination of rising fuel prices and expensive credit has made survival increasingly difficult for domestic carriers.

“The Nigerian airline is actually dead on arrival.”

Onyema added that despite the mounting pressures, Nigerian airlines continue to operate in service to the country, even as economic realities make profitability increasingly difficult. (Arise News)

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