Aviation Workers Issue 7-Day Ultimatum Over Unpaid Airline Levy

(Airline Operators. Photo by News Express)

Aviation workers have given airline operators and other defaulting organizations a seven-day ultimatum to settle unpaid 5% Ticket Sales Charges owing to aviation agencies or face statewide picketing, sparking a new labor crisis in Nigeria's aviation industry.

The National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria jointly signed the ultimatum after an earlier 14-day notice that was sent on July 8 expired on July 23 due to noncompliance from the impacted companies.

The five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, a statutory levy collected on every airline ticket sold in Nigeria, is meant to be remitted to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and shared among other aviation agencies to meet their financial obligations.

The funds are typically deducted by airline operators and remitted accordingly, but the Airline Operators of Nigeria had until recently continued collecting the charge on behalf of the authorities, before vowing to discontinue the practice.

In a strongly worded notice, the unions expressed disappointment over what they described as the wilful non-compliance of airlines and other TSC defaulters, warning that the continued failure to remit the statutory charges was starving critical aviation agencies of the funds needed to sustain safe and efficient operations.

The statement, signed by the General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Frances Akinjole, and the Deputy General Secretary of NUATE, Odinaka Igbokwe, noted that their earlier 14-day ultimatum had expired without compliance.

Lamenting that aviation agencies remained starved of the required funds to keep the skies safe, while the conditions of service of their members across the various agencies continued to be jeopardised due to the non-remittance of the levy.

According to the unions, the prolonged withholding of the statutory deductions had not only weakened the financial capacity of aviation agencies but had also adversely affected employees' welfare, creating what they described as a dangerous situation for the country's aviation industry.

They warned that the resulting demotivation among air transport workers posed a security and safety risk, stressing that the inability of agencies to access their due funds could ultimately compromise the safety and security of Nigeria's airspace.

Declaring that they could no longer remain passive, the unions announced a final seven-day notice to all defaulting airline operators and other indebted organisations, stating that they could no longer fold their hands and allow the safety of the airspace to remain compromised.

They warned that every TSC defaulter must remit the total debt owed to the agencies within the stipulated period, failing which the unions would take concrete action at the affected premises.