FAAN seals airlines airport counters over debts in Abuja

By ABDULLATEEF ALIYU, Lagos

Passengers of some of the airlines at the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja were stranded on Tuesday when the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) shut down the counters of the airlines following alleged indebtedness.

Daily Trust learnt that the FAAN Task Force at the airport sealed the counters of the airlines this morning making it impossible for them to process their passengers for the day’s flight.

It was learnt that the counters were sealed over non-remittance of passenger service charge (PSC) by the affected airlines.

The PSC, which was recently reviewed from N1000 to N2000, is a charge collected from travelers on both the domestic and international routes.

For instance, Azman passengers heading to Maiduguri were stranded following the development.

Also affected was Aero Contractors airline whose counter was also sealed.

But spokesman of Azman Air, Mr. Nura Aliyu, said the issue with FAAN had been resolved, saying the airline actually made the payment on Monday but the FAAN’s account department couldn’t confirm the payment.

He said: “Yes, we made the payment of PSC since yesterday [Monday] and we produced the evidence, but they [FAAN] couldn’t access it due to some challenges with their system, but they just confirmed to us they have seen it now.

“Issue has been resolved, we are waiting for them to unseal the counter.” (Daily Trust)