The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has increased Passenger Service Charge (PSC) by 100 percent.
The new charge according to the agency will take effect from September 1st, 2020.
With the new charge, domestic passengers who used to pay N1000 will now pay N2000 while international passengers within the ECOWAS region will pay $80 and others $100.
Before the increment, international passengers generally paid $50 as service charge.
The agency explained the increment was imperative in view of the loss recorded in the aviation sector.
According to it, its current revenue was down by 95 percent, hence the need to review the passenger charge.
Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu disclosed these on Thursday during a press briefing.
He said: “Airport management is capital intensive. FAAN has not increased Passenger Service Charge (PSC) since 2011, despite all the huge capital investments at our airports.
“This increase is just a matter of necessity. If it is not necessary for us to increase, you will never see this increase.
“Secondly, our revenue is down by over 95percent. FAAN is a service delivery agency and if you are delivering service and your revenue is down by 95percent, what do you do?
“You will do whatever you can legitimately to continue to deliver the service with the same level of quality.
“The increase of PSC does not even assure or guarantee us that we will be back to normal but it is just the beginning.”
Yadudu added that the new service charge was a necessary one to enable it survive.
“This is just one aspect of the necessity because we need to survive and keep delivering and that is why we are increasing it.”
On the timing of the increment, he said: “You have to understand that almost every aspect of our operation is business and in this modern-day, it is relative.
“If you look at it from the aspect of the passengers and airlines, it is clearly not the most appropriate time but if you look at it from the point of view of the service providers that are about to be consumed by the pandemic and the economic situation, then there is no better time for FAAN than this time because it would have been worse if we just sit down and fold our arms.”
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