{"id":32489,"date":"2026-04-20T10:49:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32489"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:49:43","slug":"nigerian-airlines-pause-flight-suspension-as-minister-urges-talks-on-fuel-costs","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigerian-airlines-pause-flight-suspension-as-minister-urges-talks-on-fuel-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian airlines pause flight suspension as Minister urges talks on fuel costs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Nigerian airlines have temporarily suspended a planned nationwide shutdown of flight operations \u200bover crippling fuel prices after a government appeal \u200cto halt the action pending talks, the airlines said over the weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), an industry body composed of a dozen \u200bmainly domestic carriers, had warned they would halt services from \u200bMonday, April 20, saying surging jet fuel costs had \u2060made operations unsustainable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">AON said it agreed to pause the action \u200bfollowing an appeal from Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, \u200bFestus Keyamo, who called for restraint and dialogue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cRising from an emergency meeting held this evening, the Airline Operators of Nigeria has reached a concessionary \u200bbut conditional decision to temporarily suspend its earlier planned shutdown \u200baction,\u201d AON said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The suspension was conditional pending the outcome \u200cof \u2060a meeting for all concerned parties scheduled for April 22, convened by the minister, AON said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">As part of their conditions, the airlines urged government agencies and service providers to keep services \u200brunning and to \u200bstop demanding \u2060upfront payments, which they said were adding to their financial strain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Soaring jet fuel prices have upended \u200bthe global aviation industry as a consequence of \u200bthe Iran war, \u2060forcing airlines to raise fares, curb growth plans and rethink forecasts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Nigerian airlines say the jet fuel price surge has been exacerbated \u2060by \u200bsupply constraints and foreign exchange pressures, \u200bsignificantly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">increasing operating costs. Fuel typically accounts for more than a third of\u00a0\u200bairlines\u2019 expenses in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32117,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-32489","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Nigerian airlines temporarily suspended planned nationwide shutdown of flight","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32490,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32489\/revisions\/32490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}