IATA Confirms Nigeria Highest Indebted Country To foreign Airlines ..Trapped Funds In Nigeria Now $792 Million

Nigeria has continued to lead other countries of the world as the highest debtor to the foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.
In the latest update given by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the highest funds of the foreign airlines trapped in Nigeria has again accumulated to $792 million making the country the most indebted.
IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East (AME), Kamil Al-Awadhi, made this known while taking questions from journalists from Africa who attended the 2023 Global Media Day in Geneva.
At the interactive session with the African journalists, the amount given by IATA was the accumulated sum as at October, 2023.
Other four countries which formed the five most indebted countries after Nigeria
According to Al-Awadhi include Egypt whose trapped funds has risen to $348 million, followed by Algeria with $199 million.
While African and Indian region has $183 million debt hanging on its neck, Ethiopian airlines is not left out as it ranked number five with the debt of $138 million.
The continuous inability of the foreign carriers to repatriate the trapped funds back home to their countries the IATA VP said has started taking its toll on many of the airlines who can no longer pursue their operational expansion.
Al-Awadhi who particularly called out the Nigerian government for not doing enough in resolving the blocked funds issue however urged Nigeria to take the issue more seriously.
The IATA Chief who lamented how the foreign airlines have been battling for survival as a result of the trapped funds mentioned how one of the affected airlines which happened to be a fellow African carrier was single handedly owed $34 million by Nigeria.
Speaking on the general outlook on aviation business in the continent, Al-Awhadi
lamented that profitability of airlines within the African region remains poor with only minor improvements in net profit margins expected in 2024.
He used the opportunity to identify areas IATA intends to give priority in the coming years to include: safety where IATA will help improve operational safety through a data driven, collaborative program to reduce safety incidents and accidents, in the air and on the ground.
Under infrastructure, IATA will focus attention on how to facilitate the growth of efficient, secure, and cost-effective aviation infrastructure, promote the liberalization of intra-African market access through the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).
Other areas to receive focus are: in the area of finance and distribution where the international body will help to accelerate the implementation of secure, effective and cost-efficient financial services and adoption of modern retailing standards, assist Africa’s air transport industry to achieve the “Net Zero by 2050” emissions targets agreed to by industry and the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and through future skills to help promote aviation-related career paths and ensure a steady supply of diverse and suitably skilled talent to meet the industry’s future needs.
In his presentation, Al-Awhadi remarked: “Safety is improving in Africa but our goal as an industry is to always ensure the conditions for a safe and efficient aviation. Nonetheless, due to high cost, a small gap between load factor and breakeven load factor is expected to remain, resulting in a positive operating result, but a modest post-tax loss in 2024.”