Airlines Pay N12bn TSC To NCAA

Domestic and interna
tional Airlines paid over N12 billion to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) that is five per cent  deductions from tickets sold  by the airlines to passengers.
Data collected from the regulatory body  showed  that domestic airlines paid NCAA the sum of N3.666 billion in 2011 and N3.42 billion in 2012, totaling N7.08 billion.
The report says foreign airlines paid the sum of $14.36 million (N2.29 billion) in 2011, while NCAA received from the foreign  carriers  the sum of $16.76 million (N2.68 billion) in 2012, totaling N5.97 billion.
The figures showed that domestic airlines earned more revenue in 2011 than in 2012 and this is attributed to the slump in domestic air travel after the Dana Air tragic crash of flight  0992 on June 3,2012.
The data also refuted the old belief that foreign airlines pay more charges to the aviation agencies that domestic carriers and the allegation that local operations are always indebted to the regulatory body and others.
Although these charges paid by the airlines go a long way in sustaining the agencies, but the international Civil Aviation Association (IATA) has urged African countries, including Nigeria to review downwards the aeronautical  charges leveled against the airlines and devise ways to encourage non aeronautical by building businesses around the airport to attract patronage from passengers and other airport users.
IATA argued that if there are lower charges against airlines they will lower  their fares which will in turn  bring in more people to travel by air, and as more people use the airport, they become bigger markets and the airport  management like the Federal Airport-Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)  will generate high percentage of its revenue from the non-aeronautical sources.
Analysts believe it is the duty of FAAN to devise more creative ways by introducing different offerings of airport terminal and also to encourage patronage of both airport users and non-airport users to the airport terminals but in ways that safety and security will not be compromised.
Chairman of the aviation think tank Aviation Round Table, Mr, Dele Ore, had once canvassed that government should continue to fund  the aviation agencies, arguing that it was  premature for government to withdraw its funding of these agencies because  if they lean on the charges from the airlines  for sustenance the charges would be too high for the airlines.
Such high charges, he said drive down the airlines and deny them the chance of making profits in their operations, and as Ore noted, if the agencies review down their charges, the fares which are relatively exorbitant would crash.
It would be recalled that Airline operators complain of harsh operating environment including non-availability of maintenance facility locally, high charges by the agencies, high cost of aviation fuel and inimical policies introduced by government and all these ensure that airlines have very short lifespan in Nigeria.