The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Capt Ado Sanusi, has called on the Federal Government to withdraw the payment of $300 landing fees by helicopter companies that provide shuttle services to oil and gas operators in Nigeria.
Under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, NAEBI Dynamic Concept Limited received approval from the Federal Government through the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to collect the controversial $300 helicopter landing fee from oil and gas service providers.
But while trying to implement it, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, hit a stiff brick wall with the operators, and then shifted the payment to oil companies.
Supporting the payment, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency last month issued a directive on the payment. It said the money ought to be paid by the oil and gas companies and not by helicopter operators.
Oil and gas companies shunned the payment, but NAMA threatened that it would stop issuing start-ups to helicopter operators if the money was not paid.
Reacting to this, the Aero boss, Sanusi, said the company demanding the money has not provided any service to warrant payment for cost recovery. He said if NAEBI Dynamic Concept Limited had provided any infrastructure, like enhancing communication or any other kind of service, it could have argued for collecting such payment.
He stressed, “My stand has always been clear on this. That $300 fee is not part of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) charges for cost recovery because you must invest, and then you can recover the cost. And the investment you are going to make must provide some value to the customer.
“But in this one, there is no investment. If they say there is an investment or the company says there is an investment, they should bring it out and let Nigerians see the investment they have made in either surveillance in navigation, or communication. You have not invested anything, and you just put a levy, and you are not a government organisation to say that you want to tax people.”
Sanusi, whose airline, Aero Contractors, also provides oil and gas shuttle services, stressed that the government is allowed to tax operators so that it can build infrastructure, provide healthcare, education, and the rest.
“Bear in mind that by the Act establishing NAMA, they are the only CNS providers. That is communication, navigation, and surveillance. So, what else? How did that person (company) get to provide any of these, either the C or the N, or the S?
“My understanding is that today, if the government allows it, charging $300 on helicopters per landing, tomorrow another will come and say that it is $500. And maybe next year somebody will come and say, okay, it’s $1000 per landing,” he said.
Sanusi, who was the former Managing Director of NAMA, said the reason oil and gas companies may have refused the payment of the fee could be because they know that there is no basis for it.
Three other operators, who spoke in confidence so as not to be victimised, described the charge as an outright fraud and an attempt to extort operators. One of the operators questioned the basis for the payment, saying it was an outright disregard of the ICAO rules and principles.
“It is illegal, it is unprecedented and clearly a violation of ICAO rules and guidelines. It is like someone asking you to pay for parking your car in your garage.
“They call it a landing charge, but the landing charge is paid to the owners of the facility upon which you are landing. We pay FAAN when we land at their airport, we pay the Air Force when we land in their facility, and so on. Those are landing charges; why should I then pay the government for landing in a private facility?,” the operator stated.
