Indigenous airline operators resolve differences, unite for growth of aviation industry — President
Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has said that it is committed to further enhance the growth of the nation’s economy, through its operations in the aviation sector.
President of AON, Dr Abdulmunaf Yunusa, said this at a news conference in Abuja during the week.
Yunusa, who is President of Azman Airline, said the focus of current leadership and members of AON was to further advance growth of aviation industry, adding that ealier disagreements on the issues relating to elections of executive of AON had been resolved.
“We thank God that the differences we have in our association has been resolved; we are one in the association; we are working together.
“We do not have any further misunderstanding, we all are working for the interest of Nigeria, we want to save our industry and work further for the advancement of our country.
“ We are telling the general public that we are together as airline operators.
Chairman of West Link Airlines , Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia, said the AON had resolved the ealier disagreement arising from the election of its executive in 2019.
“We had misunderstanding before; we are now in agreement; the faction we have before we do not have it again; we are now united, we have withdrawn our case in court for the interest of Nigerian aviation.
“In 2019, we had differences in election of executive of airline operators and we went to court because some of us were not satisfied.
“But today, our faction has withdrawn the case in court against the leadership of Airline operators.
“We have now agreed, the faction that was not happy before is now happy with the leadership of AON.
“I want to announce on the behalf of my faction that the disagreement has now been resolved.
“What we are doing now is to unite and all the difference has been resolved and our lawyers have withdrawn the case totally.
“On behalf of my team, I recognise the President of Azman and the President of Air Peace as the leaders of one strong AON.”
Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, Chairman, United Airlines and Spokesperson of AON, thanked God and the leadership of AON for the leadership provided in spite of the challenges.
“We have no grudges, we are together as one air operators of Nigeria, and we have only one interest for the best of Nigerian aviation industry and for the good of our country.”
He said as patriotic Nigerians, they would ensure that the sector, the third largest contributor to Nigerian GDP which had directly and indirectly employed thousands of jobs, would continue to add value to the economy of the nation.
“We will continue to defend it to the best of our ability.”
He urged stakeholders operating in the sector, including the government regulators, to be more patriotic and think of the interest of Nigerians.
He also thanked Nigerian air travellers for their understanding, and urged them to be patient with the operators as they worked to overcome the challenges in the sector.
He gave the assurance that AON would continue to deliver efficient services.
Other members of the executives of AON at the meeting included the Chairman, Top Ranks Aviation, and Chairman of Air Peace.
