Air Peace chairman cites $1.85 million repair bill for bird strike, blames infrastructure deficits

Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace, warned at the 30th Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents in Lagos that Nigerian aviation infrastructure continues to deteriorate. He cited a specific incident last week in Abuja where a bird strike damaged an aircraft inlet cowling. The foreign original equipment manufacturer charged Air Peace with $1.85 million for the repair. Onyema stated this cost could wipe out an entire year of an aircraft's revenue. He argued that airport managers cannot purchase modern bird deterrence equipment or maintain runways because the central government deducts 50 percent of their internally generated revenue. Meanwhile, Obiora Okonkwo, executive chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, discussed ticket sales charges at the same event. Okonkwo dismissed allegations that airlines failed to remit the five percent Ticket Sales Charge to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority. He insisted that payment difficulties emerged only when fuel costs increased to N3,300 due to the US-Iran crisis. He noted the Airline Operators of Nigeria raised concerns first regarding these regulatory burdens.