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…As aviation body slams unions for disrupting operations
Nigerian carriers Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines and Enugu Air lost a combined sum of more than N1 billion on Tuesday after the industrial action by aviation unions forced them to cancel over 80 flights leaving thousands of passengers stranded across major airports.
The disruption began in the early hours of Tuesday when the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) shut down Air Peace’s operations in Lagos and Abuja. The unions, backed by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), accused the airline of blocking staff from unionising and of failing to remit statutory charges owed to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The action, which the unions described as a restrained response after weeks of notice, spread across the aviation sector, with United Nigeria Airlines and Enugu Air also suspending their operations. Passengers were stranded at the terminals as flights were disrupted across major networks worsening the financial strain to carriers already grappling with tight margins.
The cause of the dispute is the five percent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC), along with the Cargo Sales Charge and Charter Sales Charge, which airlines are required to remit to the NCAA. Daily Sun learned that three of the country’s major carriers alone Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines and Aero Contractors remit over N3 billion monthly into NCAA coffers.
Despite this monthly remittance however, union leaders allege that several domestic carriers have withheld these deductions, starving aviation agencies of operating funds and stalling the agreements already negotiated on behalf of their members. They then issued a notice of picketing on August 4, followed by a three-day strike ultimatum, before moving ahead with Tuesday’s shutdown. They said the disruption follows an earlier 14-day notice and a subsequent seven-day ultimatum issued on July 28.
Reacting to the strike on Tuesday, the NCAA Director General Capt. Chris Najomo urged the unions to suspend the action and give room for dialogue, noting that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo was working to resolve the dispute. The NCAA blamed the airlines for the disruption saying that they failed to attend a meeting convened by the minister the previous week.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) pushed back against the industrial action, arguing that airlines have no direct transactional relationship with the unions over TSC remittances and that the strike is rooted in misinformation. The body maintained that domestic carriers are already under severe financial strain from rising jet fuel costs and multiple regulatory charges.
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Following the fall out of the strike, the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI)on Tuesday issued a statement criticising the unions for what it called disruptive and selectively targeted action, particularly the decision to single out Air Peace. The group argued that recovering unremitted statutory charges is a matter for government agencies, not organised labour, and cited provisions of the Civil Aviation Act and Trade Disputes Act that it says bar strikes at aerodromes and during active mediation.
ASRTI warned that the picketing risked eroding public confidence in Nigerian aviation and sending a discouraging signal to international investors, and called on the unions to pursue their grievances through legal channels instead.
The statement read: “The enforcement of statutory penalties and the recovery of debts owed to regulatory agencies remain the exclusive statutory mandate of the Federal Government and its empowered institutions, and the Nigerian Labour Congress and its allies have clearly overstepped their bounds.
“The rules of engagement and understanding of issues must drive how unions fight or advocate for a cause, not through the use of coercion, intimidation, or disruption. These actions directly contravene core tenets of Nigerian law designed to protect critical national infrastructure. Under Section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act, all services facilitating safe flight operations, passenger embarkation, and cargo handling within aerodromes are explicitly designated as essential services, strictly prohibiting strikes, lockouts, pickets, blockades, or service disruptions of any kind within regulated aviation facilities.
“Furthermore, pursuant to Section 18 of the Trade Disputes Act, declaring or participating in a strike while a trade dispute is actively undergoing official mediation or before statutory dispute resolution procedures have been exhausted is explicitly illegal. Under Nigerian labour jurisprudence, trade union membership is strictly voluntary, and coercing, intimidating, or targeting employees or selecting individual corporate entities for disruptive blockades violates the constitutional freedom of association.
“The ART has maintained severally that disruptive or unbridled labour activism has no place in the aviation sector, which is not only heavily regulated but volatile and sensitive to disruptions. We unequivocally stand against picketing at airport terminals and their immediate environs. Travel disruptions are not only distressing for passengers who have paid for the services but send negative signals about Nigerian aviation to potential investors and the international community.”
