Airlines to remit outstanding service charges within 60 days, NCAA orders

By Isaac Tersoo Agber

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ordered all Airlines operating both scheduled and charter flights in the country to fully remit all outstanding debts owed the authority within 60 days without further delay.

The General Manager, Public Relations, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, who made this known in a statement, stated that the directive was handed down at a meeting with the operators on non-remittance of 5 per cent Ticket charge, Cargo and Charter Sales Charges [TSA/TCA] held at the Authority’s Headquarters Annex Wednesday, April 20, 2016.

Adurogboye said that the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, presided at the meeting in company of the authority’s top management staff. According to him “The DG said that the directive has to do with the 5 per cent TSA/TCA collected at source from the air passengers by the airlines on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

These sales charges, he explained, are to enable all aviation agencies carry out their responsibilities of providing safe, secure and efficient regulatory services for the overall benefits of all aviation stakeholders.

The meeting harped on areas of critical concern with the issue of non-remittance of service charges at the centre of discourse. The agency resolved that “it is imperative that all unremitted funds must be forwarded in full to the NCAA immediately and the airlines must desist from using these funds held in trust.

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It was also decided that the ongoing 5% Ticket/Cargo/Charter/Sales Charges automation of payments, which offers real-time transparent transactions, must be completed within two (2) months. With this, the agency believes that it will remove endless reconciliation of data and reduce high debt profile of airlines to all agencies. And this reconciliation of all outstanding debts “must be completed within sixty (60) days,” the statement read.

The NCAA also insisted that henceforth: FAAN-Passenger Service Charge (PSC); Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS)-5% VAT; and NCAA 5 per cent ticket Sales Charges (TSC), including other add-on charges, surcharge (i.e. fuel surcharges-(YQ, etc) or any other miscellaneous added on passenger ticket, must be approved by the Authority before applying these charges on passenger tickets.

Adurogboye hinted that after exhaustive deliberations between NCAA team led by the DG and airline operators chaired by Capt. Chimara O. Imediegwu of First Nation, agreement was reached by all parties on all the issues raised.

But the operators, however, asked for adjournment till next week Wednesday the 27th of April, 2016 to enable the Airlines hold further consultations on the Time Line and its implementations.

In attendance were the top officials from DANA Airlines, Azman Airlines, Medview Airlines, Chanchangi, Overland Airways, among others.