The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has narrated how African countries have been frustrating his airline from operating seamlessly in their home countries with airport charges.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>
Onyema narrated the hostilities towards Nigerian carriers during the 48th Annual General Meeting and exhibition of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in Lagos.
The airline chief who exonerated Ghana from the aero politics, maintained that all other African countries where Air Peace operates, have continued to use exorbitant airport charges to frustrate Air Peace from operating in the African market.
Onyema said while these African airlines operate flights into Nigeria without limitations, the reverse has been the case as their home countries write to Air Peace not to fly into their country.
Whenever Air Peace challenges this decision in court, the countries would reluctantly allow Air Peace to operate but afterward use exorbitant airport charges to frustrate the airline.
“It took us four years to get approval to fly into a West African country but their airline has been coming into Nigeria for many years. When we eventually started flying, they wanted to chase us away with exorbitant airport charges. They told us to pay $12,000 per landing. We cannot implement SAATM in a lopsided way and expect it to work.
“Some countries we fly into send us bills running into millions of euros. When we ask them how we incurred the bill, they won’t respond. We made payment and after making payment, they told us the account we paid into no longer exists and we need to make a fresh payment. I have never seen a country as welcoming as Nigeria but we are being stigmatised in other countries”, Onyema said.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>
