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The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has said going forward, it would completely shut down flight operations if labour unions picket any of its members.
The body, which is the association of domestic scheduled, cargo, and charter airline operators comprising fixed-wing (airplane) and rotary-wing (helicopter) operators, held its general meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and in a communiqué released on Monday, said it stands united with Air Peace and all its members in maintaining zero tolerance for all forms of “unlawful interference” with airline operations and safety.
It would be recalled that on August 11, labour unions disrupted the operations of Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 (MMA1) and Terminal 2 (MMA2) as well as the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja by blocking access to the departure terminals. The unions accused AON members of owing Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and preventing workers from joining unions.
In responding to the incidenta, the AON said that the actions of the aviation unions has exposed the vulnerabilities in the security architecture of the nation’s airports and response plan by the Aviation Security (AVSEC) and called for an immediate review and overhaul of security procedures at all airports across the country.
The AON said there are also recorded cases where members of the unions exhibited acts of violence against airline staff and caused bodily harm to some of them. The airline body said it views these acts as a gross violation of the rights of operators to a safe and secure operational and business environment and a ‘shameful, despicable and very disturbing development with grave implications for the aviation industry in Nigeria.’
“ICAO Annex 17 defines ‘unlawful interference’ as “… acts or attempted acts such as to jeopardize the safety of civil aviation. From the foregoing therefore, the unfortunate events of August 11, 2026 were effectively a violation of aviation safety and security regulations with serious immediate and future local and global implications for the aviation sector in Nigeria.
“We are committed to protecting our employees, revered passengers, equipment and to maintain the highest standards of safety and operational excellence, even with the peculiarities of our constraining operating environment. To this end therefore, the AON would like to state in unequivocal terms that should the events of August 11, 2026, repeat themselves again against any domestic airline, the entire AON member airlines will immediately shut down operations. We condemn very seriously the recent upsurge in the use of unions to threaten, harass, and intimidate Nigerian airlines by certain quarters. It is illegal, unconstitutional, and above all, an aberration.
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“Airlines lost huge sums of revenue together with other additional costs as a result of the disruptions. For instance, it said Air Peace alone had more than 70 of its flights affected with estimated losses of over ₦2 billion. Similarly, more than 30 flights of United Nigeria Airlines, impacting about 13,000 passengers going by the aircraft and sectors scheduled for that day. Furthermore, airlines had to carry the unwarranted burden of rebooking passengers, offering accommodation, paying refunds, repositioning crew, rescheduling aircraft and incurring other recovery costs in an already very harsh operating environment, with unprecedented high fuel costs, very high foreign-exchange based maintenance costs, etc.
“Though the strike action took place mainly at the Lagos and Abuja airports, other flights across the entire domestic, regional and international networks of the airlines in the country were directly affected as Lagos and Abuja are the domestic hubs that funnel capacity across the country’s entire airports system.
“No sooner did the activities of the unions begin to unfold on that fateful day than the confidence of investors in the Nigerian aviation sector began to wane. Lessors who had just recently begun to take interest in the market were forced to begin to reconsider their intentions of investing in the sector, given the ease with which aviation business activities could be majorly disrupted and ground to a halt,” the AON said.
The AON said that apart from the issues regarding the unions, it would also like to draw the attention of the general public to the cause of delays and cancellations. The body said that it is not in the interest of any airline to delay or cancel flights as this always has severe financial and image consequences. It said in Nigeria, most of the causes of delays and cancellations are factors that are neither in the control of airlines nor caused by them.
“Some of the more prevalent causes of delays and cancellations include, but are not limited to, weather, inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested aprons in both Lagos and Abuja airports, sunset airport restrictions, VIP movement, frequent bird strikes and foreign object damage, unavailability of and ever-rising costs of aviation fuel, inefficient air traffic flow, and inadequate airport infrastructure,” the AON said.
The body commended the ongoing construction and rehabilitation activities of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos but said that while it appreciates the efforts of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Federal Government to upgrade facilities at the airport terminal and give Nigerians a befitting infrastructure, they request that airlines, who are the key stakeholders, be carried along at the early stage to contribute their ideas towards the functionality and flow of the airport facility so as to address any design flaws that may affect functionality in future.
