A nationwide industrial dispute involving aviation workers’ unions and Air Peace disrupted flight operations at airports in Lagos and Abuja on Tuesday, with at least 80 flights reportedly cancelled and many others delayed.
The disruption, which lasted for several hours, left thousands of passengers stranded and is estimated to have caused more than N2 billion in preliminary losses to airlines and related aviation businesses, excluding potential ticket refunds and other passenger claims.
The action was led by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), with the backing of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The unions were protesting alleged outstanding remittances of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) by Air Peace, as well as what they described as the airline’s refusal to allow workers to unionise.
The unions claimed that Air Peace owed aviation agencies billions of naira in TSC and had resisted efforts by its employees to join trade unions.
Air Peace, which operates an estimated 80 flights daily across its domestic, regional and international network and carries about 8,000 passengers, became the main target of the action.
The unions blocked access to the airline’s terminals at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, disrupting scheduled departures.
Air Peace spokesman, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, said entrances to the airline’s Alpha and Zulu terminals at Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, as well as its operations at Terminal 2 and in Abuja, were blocked.
He said the blockade prevented scheduled flights from departing and significantly disrupted passengers travelling across the airline’s network.
“Air Peace sincerely apologises to all affected and stranded passengers for the disruption and inconvenience caused by circumstances beyond the airline’s control,” Osifo-Whiskey said.
A source close to the airline said about half of its scheduled flights had been cancelled by the time the picketing was suspended, including services between Lagos and Abuja and Lagos and Port Harcourt.
Dispute escalates
The situation escalated after Air Peace drivers allegedly used company vehicles to block access to the runway at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, affecting the operations of other domestic airlines.
ATSSSAN General Secretary, Frances Akinjole, said the unions took the action after Air Peace management allegedly refused to engage with them over the disputed remittances and workers’ right to organise.
He said the latest confrontation followed an attempt by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, to broker discussions between the unions and airline operators.
According to Akinjole, the unions attended the meeting convened by the minister but Air Peace subsequently indicated that it would not meet with the unions.
He described the alleged use of vehicles to block the runway as unacceptable and said the picketing of Air Peace was deliberate because of its significant share of the domestic aviation market.
Akinjole later confirmed that the unions had suspended the picketing to allow for a review of the situation.
Airlines count cost
Other airlines were also affected by the disruption.
The Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi, called for a government investigation into the unions’ actions, saying his airline’s operations from Abuja were affected while flights on other routes experienced delays.
Sanusi said it was too early to determine the financial cost to the airline, noting that an assessment would be required to establish the full impact.
He questioned why unions should resort to airport picketing over the alleged non-remittance of statutory charges when government agencies had mechanisms for recovering such payments.
“This shows that the aviation sector has a bigger problem than we think,” Sanusi said, urging the Federal Government to investigate the incident.
United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) said it cancelled 32 flights as a result of the disruption.
The airline’s public relations officer, Chibuike Uloka, said all eight of its serviceable aircraft had been fully booked before the picketing.
He said the airline could have lost about N500 million as a result of the disruption.
NCAA orders arrest of driver
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it had ordered the arrest of the driver allegedly involved in blocking access to the runway.
The authority’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, said appropriate sanctions would be imposed, stressing that such conduct would not be tolerated.
The President of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Ademola Onitiju, also condemned what he described as the unions’ “selective strike”.
Onitiju acknowledged the unions’ right to advocate for workers’ welfare but said disrupting airport operations over alleged non-remittance of Ticket Sales Charges and Cargo Sales Charges was inappropriate.
He said the action disregarded ongoing efforts by the aviation minister to resolve the dispute through dialogue.
NCAA urges unions to return to dialogue
The NCAA appealed to the unions to suspend further industrial action and return to negotiations.
The Director-General of Civil Aviation, Chris Najomo, said the regulator was concerned about the impact of the dispute on passengers, airlines and other stakeholders.
He urged the unions to “sheathe their swords and exercise restraint” while efforts continued to resolve the disagreement.
The NCAA said a meeting convened by the aviation minister the previous week could have provided an opportunity to address the dispute, but the meeting could not proceed because some airline operators failed to attend.
Najomo assured passengers that the industrial dispute had not compromised flight safety, saying the NCAA continued to exercise its statutory safety oversight responsibilities.
He called on all parties to embrace dialogue and cooperation, expressing confidence that normal flight operations would resume once the dispute was resolved.
Tuesday’s disruption is not the first time aviation unions have picketed airport facilities in Nigeria. Similar actions have been recorded at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2) terminal in Lagos, including in 2018 and 2022, over industrial disputes involving the terminal operator and its workers.
Unions have also previously embarked on protests and industrial action involving aviation agencies including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the NCAA.
