The President, Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, Dr. Abdulmunaf Yunusa has assured no Nigerian airline will cut corners if bailout is not given or under any circumstance.
He says, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) is alive to its duties and will never allow such to happen and Nigerian airlines, as a result of the stringent safety regime being run by the NCAA, are the safest in the world.
The assurance is coming on the heels of comments credited to a senator that as a result of the financial problems brought to the airlines by the effects of COVID-19 and, as result of lack of adequate government bailouts for the airline, that the airlines had resorted to cutting corners.
The AON President in a statement says, Nigerian airlines will never compromise safety under any circumstance and that if the burden of running our business becomes unbearable as a result of the Custom duties and VAT, they would rather shut down and suspend our operations rather than cut corners.
He reiterates, “there is no iota of truth Nigerian airlines have not cut corners, do not cut corners and will never cut corners. We want to believe that the Distinguished Senator was misunderstood and quoted out of context because there is never any available fact supporting such a conclusion”.
Dr. Yunusa states that the plea by the senator “with government to stop the Customs department from re-introducing the payment of duties and VAT on the importation of commercial aircraft, commercial aircraft spares and engines was a flagrant disobedience of the Executive Order by President Buhari granting zero duty and zero VAT on the importation of commercial aircraft, aircraft spares and aircraft engines are in order but noting that such decision by the Customs could make the airlines to start cutting corners because If their inability to clear their spares from the customs” is not true.
