The Federal Government is examining a potential strategy to recover unpaid debts from domestic airlines by accepting seat inventory as payment. A senior official within the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development indicated that this framework would allow carriers to settle obligations to agencies like the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria using flight tickets rather than cash.
This initiative, proposed by QuickAir Networks Ltd and led by Dr. Segun Oyebolu, seeks to provide a sustainable path for debt recovery without forcing aggressive actions that might ground airline operations. Under the plan, airlines would create digital wallets representing their debt, which would then be distributed to government departments or corporate entities as discounted travel inventory.
Currently, local airlines owe an estimated 60 billion naira to regulatory agencies and fuel providers. Operators cite rising fuel costs and currency volatility as primary drivers of these financial struggles. Conversely, labor unions including the National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals have protested against the non-remittance of mandatory Ticket Sales Charges, which they argue threatens sector stability. Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo has previously highlighted that individual carriers owe up to 14 billion naira, complicating the delivery of vital aviation services.
Implementation remains subject to further discussions, including coordination with the Airlines Organization of Nigeria to verify debt amounts and structure a potential pilot program. Oyebolu noted that the success of the model depends on preventing the accumulation of new debts while ensuring the automatic remittance of future Ticket Sales Charges.
