Farouk Umar, Director-General of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), has urged for an upward review of the N11,000 fee currently charged airlines per flight.
Speaking on Tuesday at a retreat themed “Emerging Trends in Global Aviation: Sustainability, Technology and Digital Transformation” organised for members of the House Committee on Aviation in Abuja, Umar stressed that the charge, introduced in 2008, no longer reflects present economic realities.
“In 2008, NAMA was collecting N11,000 per flight. For instance, from Lagos to Abuja, we charge N11,000 for the entire flight, not per passenger,” Umar explained.
“At that time, an economy ticket cost about N16,000. Today, the same ticket is between N150,000 and N200,000, yet we are still collecting N11,000. We cannot continue this way; we keep modernising to meet global standards, but we are still being paid peanuts. The airlines know this but prefer to ignore the reality.”
The NAMA boss noted that the agency operates on a cost-recovery model and has invested heavily in surveillance, landing, and communication systems to enhance aviation safety. He lamented that several attempts to engage airline operators on revising the charge have so far been unsuccessful.
According to Umar, NAMA has repeatedly attempted to engage airlines on the need for a fee review, but operators have resisted. He described this resistance as unfair, noting that while airlines frequently adjust ticket fares to reflect rising operational costs, they refuse to acknowledge the agency’s own financial realities.
“The airlines have not been fair to the agency. They respond to economic circumstances by raising ticket prices, but they do not want to understand that we also operate in the same economy. We go to the same markets to procure equipment. Safety is at stake if we cannot recover costs,” he said.
Umar stressed that NAMA’s charges are not profit-driven but strictly aimed at cost recovery to guarantee safe, reliable, and modern air navigation services.