Airline Operators of Nigeria raises alarm over SAATM

By Dickson Omobola & Matilda Ikediobi

Domestic operators, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, have urged Federal Government to be cautious in its implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market, SAATM, saying it is tilted against the country’s interests.

SAATM, otherwise known as the African open skies, is an initiative by the African Union, AU, to increase intra-African air connectivity, lower fares and boost economic growth by removing restrictions on air services.

Spokesperson for the AON, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, warned government against allocating lucrative routes to foreign carriers, saying Nigerian operators currently lack the capacity to compete, especially against dominant regional carriers like Ethiopian Airlines.

Okonkwo spoke at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, National Aviation Conference 2025 themed: ‘Elevating the Nigerian Aviation Industry through Investment, Partnership and Global Engagements,’ held in Lagos.

His words: “We think that SAATM is good, no doubt about it, but our circumstances have not prepared Nigeria operators effectively for SAATM, especially at this time. Considering the aero-politics and aero-economics, government is supposed to be careful and we must be protected.

“The target for the whole SAATM in Africa is Nigeria. If you have operators like Ethiopian Airlines that operate multiple entry points in and out of Nigeria, and 80 per cent of the passengers departing from here to Ethiopia continue onward to other destinations, how many passengers am I going to carry from here to Ethiopia in the reciprocity arena?

“As operators, we have been deprived of the opportunity, because for many years, we were on a total blacklist of lessors around the world, for no sin of ours. We could not lease any aircraft on dry lease. It is either we buy aircraft outrightly or SMI, which required that we pay like three times higher than any other country.

“With the efforts of this government, the minister, we are out of it (blacklist). We need about the next two, three years to normalise things, and then we will be ready for SAATM. But before that, we are asking government to be careful. We need to be protected. They must not give the routes that will make us viable to someone else because if the person mops up all the passengers, then we cannot even start. When that happens, it is capital flight.”

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