AON condemns airline picketing, warns of investor confidence loss

Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, has condemned what it described as the recent upsurge in the use of unions to threaten, harass and intimidate Nigerian airlines, saying such actions violate the rights of airlines to a safe, secure operational and business environment.

AON, which lamented the recent picketing of Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace, said the carriers lost huge sums of revenue and incurred additional costs as a result of the disruptions.

Rising from a meeting held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the airlines, in a communiqué, said Air Peace alone had more than 70 of its flights affected, with estimated losses of over N2 billion, while more than 30 flights operated by United Nigeria Airlines were affected, impacting about 13,000 passengers based on the aircraft and sectors scheduled for the day.

They expressed sadness that the airlines had to bear the unwarranted burden of rebooking passengers, offering accommodation, paying refunds, repositioning crew, rescheduling aircraft and incurring other recovery costs in an already harsh operating environment characterised by unprecedentedly high fuel costs and very high foreign exchange-based maintenance costs.

The communiqué reads: “On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, a group of Nigerian aviation unions and others outside the aviation industry embarked on a violent, disruptive action.

“The disruptions occurred both at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1, MMA1, and Terminal 2, MMA2, as well as the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, where the union members blocked access to Air Peace’s departure terminals.

“The unions virtually brought all activities of the airline to a screeching halt by blocking the entrances to terminals and check-in counters and preventing airline workers from accessing their offices and workstations to check in passengers and offer services to passengers.

“There were also recorded cases where members of these unions exhibited wilful acts of violence against airline staff and caused bodily harm to some of them. We consider these actions a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of aviation workers going about their lawful duties and a serious threat to peace, safety and security within the airport environment.

“The AON views these acts as a gross violation of the rights of airlines 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 jeopardise 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.

“AON condemns 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.

Financial losses

“Airlines lost huge sums of revenue, together with other additional costs, as a result of the disruptions. For instance, Air Peace alone had more than 70 of its flights affected, with estimated losses of over N2 billion. Similarly, more than 30 flights of United Nigeria Airlines were affected, impacting about 13,000 passengers, based on 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 unprecedentedly high fuel costs, very high foreign exchange-based maintenance costs, etc.

Disruption

“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 airport system. Passengers were stranded throughout the nation and beyond.

“Exposure of the vulnerability of airport infrastructure. It is instructive to put on record that the activities of the unions clearly undermined airport security regulations and exposed the vulnerability of Nigeria’s airport infrastructure, contrary to globally instituted provisions on aviation security. When the actions of unions result in passengers and airline staff being prevented from accessing airline terminals, the consequences extend beyond those involved.

Investor confidence

“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 brought to a halt.

Other issues

“Apart from the issues regarding the unions, the AON would also like to draw the attention of the general public to the following clarifications. It is never in the interest of any airline to delay or cancel flights, as this always has severe financial and image consequences. Delays and cancellations are, therefore, the last thing any airline wants. In Nigeria, most of the causes of delays and cancellations are factors that are neither within the control of airlines nor caused by them.

“Some of the more prevalent causes of delays and cancellations include, but are by no means limited to, the following: weather, this is the major cause of delays, especially during the rainy seasons and the dust-haze months of November to March.

“Inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested aprons in both Lagos and Abuja airports.

“Again, because of a deficit in navigational and functional visual aids, as well as inadequate staffing numbers of technical personnel, most of the secondary airports in Nigeria are open between the hours of 7am and 6pm. Once an airline misses this operating window as a result of one or more of the above-mentioned causal factors, airlines are then forced to cancel scheduled flights to such destinations, further compounding the sub-optimal utilisation of their aircraft assets.

“VIP movement: The closure of airspace for security reasons to allow certain coded security movements is a significant cause of unpredictable delays across the entire system. This airspace closure for VIP movement, though necessary, has consequences for the operations of airlines. The delays occasioned by this factor are not caused by airlines, yet domestic airlines are regularly held responsible for their impact.

“Bird strikes and foreign object damage frequently affect aircraft during taxiing, take-off and landing. The massive delays occasioned by bird strikes are not caused by airlines.

“Jet A1 today costs above N2,500 per litre and has continued to rise fast and steadily. On top of the continuous rise in fuel prices, fuel supply is at best epileptic at several secondary airports, thereby causing delays.

“Sometimes, airlines have to wait on the ground in a queue for extended periods before being given clearance for take-off.

“Inadequate airport infrastructure, including but not limited to poor check-in facilities, lack of adequate screening and exit points, unserviceable baggage carousels, and inadequate and unreliable ground services equipment from ground-handling companies, all cause avoidable systemic delays.

“The AON commends the current ongoing construction and rehabilitation activities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Federal Government to upgrade facilities at the airport terminal and give Nigerians befitting infrastructure, we respectfully request that airlines, who are 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.”