Aviation Crisis: CBN Releases $265m to Airlines to Settle Outstanding Ticket Sales
- Says CBN not against companies repatriating funds
In a move to check the impending crisis in the country’s aviation sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday, released the sum of $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sales.
A breakdown of the figure indicated that the sum of $230 million was released as a special FX intervention, while another sum of $35 million was released through the Retail SMIS auction.
Confirming the release, the Director of Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, said that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his team were concerned about the development and what it portends for the sector and travelers as well as the country in the comity of nations.
Nwanisobi reassured that the CBN was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country, stressing that what the Bank stood for was an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so.
With Friday’s release of the fund, it is expected that operators as well as travelers will heave huge sighs of relief as some airlines had threatened to withdraw their services in the face of unremitted funds for the outstanding sale of tickets.
