Air Peace chief executive Allen Onyema on Wednesday dared aviation labour unions threatening to picket Nigerian carriers, saying domestic airlines have no dispute with them and warning that any shutdown would throw hundreds of thousands out of work.
Onyema spoke to aviation journalists at the launch of a biography in Lagos, reacting to union warnings that airlines yet to remit Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) would face industrial action.
He insisted airlines maintain a direct relationship with the regulator and have been complying with its directives.
“This is an aberration; it has never happened before. If we have a problem with the civil aviation authority, we discuss it. We have no problems with the NCAA,” Onyema said.
“We don’t have any business with any union. We have business with the NCAA, and we have been complying with everything the NCAA has directed us to do. So, if they want to shut down the industry, we are waiting for them.”
The Air Peace boss described operating conditions in Nigeria as among the harshest in the world, citing high borrowing costs of 30–33 percent interest and frequent bird strikes that erode revenue.
“If anyone thinks they can use a union to intimidate airlines in this country, they are wasting their time. The airlines are already struggling,” he said. “Let them come. Let them bring it on and try to shut the airlines down.”
Onyema added that a forced closure would leave large numbers of staff jobless.
“We will release hundreds of thousands of staff to the public, and let all of them become jobless. There is no problem if that is the best way to solve this issue,” he said, stressing that airlines have cooperated fully with the aviation minister and NCAA director-general.
