The International Air Transport Association (IATA), Thursday, said that failure to repatriate the $464 million (about N199.2 billion) airlines’ funds blocked by the Federal Government, (FG) will harm Nigeria’s economy, if not released on time.
IATA in a series of tweets on its official Twitter handles @IATA, said this will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity proving true with the withdrawal of emirates from the market.
According to the international association, “Airlines can’t be expected to fly if they can’t realize revenue from ticket sales. Loss of connectivity harms the economy, hurts investor confidence, and impacts jobs and people’s lives.
“The Government of Nigeria needs to prioritize the release of the funds before more damage is done.
“IATA’s many warnings that failure to restore timely repatriation will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity are proving true with the withdrawal of @emirates from the market.
“IATA is disappointed that the amount of airline’s money blocked from repatriation by the Nigerian government grew to $464 million in July.”
It would be recalled that Emirates, Thursday, announced its decision to suspend all flight operations to and from Nigeria starting from September 1, 2022, due to its inability to repatriate ticket sales.
Recall also about two months ago, IATA had accused the Nigerian government of preventing foreign airlines from repatriating the sum of $450 million (about N188.6 billion) they had earned from ticket sales to their respective countries.
