The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) have threatened to shut down the operations of airlines that fail to remit ticket sales charge to key agencies, warning that picketing will start “any time from now” without any further notice.
This was made known by the aviation unions in a notice issued on Tuesday after the expiration of a 7-day ultimatum on Monday, August 3.
The ultimatum came after a previous 14-day notice issued to defaulting airlines over failure to remit the statutory 5% levy levied on passengers on behalf of aviation agencies.
The unions, in a statement jointly signed by ATSSSAN General Secretary, Comrade Frances Akinjole, and NUATE Deputy General Secretary, Comrade Odinaka Igbokwe, reiterated that the contentious ticket sales charge was meant for the smooth running of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).
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“Because they are adamant to yield to our calls: It has become crystal clear that these airlines that collected this money from the passengers on behalf the aviation agencies have decided to siphon the fund to the detriment of our collective safety and well-being,” the notice partly reads.
The unions said “the pilfering airlines are un-fit to remain in our sky that is being serviced by genuine and patriotic efforts of other sincerely responsible operators in the industry.”
The unions cited safety and workers welfare in saying they “ have decided to stop the operations of the cancerous airlines in our airports any time from now without further notice.”
The notice was sent to the media, all defaulting airlines, Nigerian police divisions in all Nigerian airports, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the general public.
The ticket sales charge is a statutory fee paid by passengers and collected by airlines, and is expected to be remitted to aviation agencies to fund safety, navigation, training and regulatory services.