Air Peace chief executive officer Allen Onyema, has warned that Nigerian airlines could collapse within three months if new tax reform laws are fully implemented.
Speaking in an interview on Arise News, Onyema said the reforms reintroduced charges eliminated under the 2020 tax regime, including customs duties on imported aircraft, spare parts, and engines, as well as VAT on air tickets.
“There is VAT now on the importation of aircraft. So if you buy an aircraft of $80 million, you are supposed to pay 7.5 per cent of $80 million.
“From money borrowed from the bank, interest rates are 30 to 35 percent. So you bring in spare parts, you pay 7.5 percent on your spare parts,” he said.
According to him, the cumulative burden would be unsustainable for domestic carriers.
“If we implement that tax reform, Nigerian airlines will go down in three months,” Onyema said.
The airline executive also said Nigerian airlines would no longer tolerate unruly passenger behaviour from January 1, 2026, citing repeated incidents on international routes.
“We are no longer going to condone unruly passenger behaviour because we believe that they’re being supported by the system unnecessarily,” he added.
Onyema’s comments come amid rising concern over domestic airfares. On December 10, the Senate summoned Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo and industry stakeholders over fare increases, while the House of Representatives on December 11 called on the federal government to cut aviation taxes by 50 per cent.
