The national association of Nigeria travel agencies (NANTA) says British Airways (BA) has closed inventory on Nigeria in the global distribution system (GDS), over foreign airlines’ trapped $464 million.
Susan Akporiaye, president of NANTA, said this on Friday.
A global distribution system (GDS) is a computerised network system owned or operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industry service providers, mainly airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and travel agencies.
According to Akporiaye, the implication of the removal from the GDS is that travel agents cannot make bookings from their portals.
“They closed inventory on the GDS only. That means travel agencies can’t issue tickets from our portal but you can book online on their site that is why I said they did not stop sales. Even if you go to their office they can’t issue a ticket for you. You only have the option of booking online.”
Akporiaye’s comments come following reports earlier on Friday that the association had issued a statement stating that BA had stopped selling tickets in the country, and planned to also suspend its operations in Nigeria.
However, she said the airline has not stopped selling tickets but rather, the inventory was yanked off from the global distribution system (GDS).
Regarding BA’s suspension of operations in Nigeria, NANTA in a statement said no other airline has expressed the desire to pull out of Nigeria’s air space.
“The national executive council of NANTA went into a business meeting with British Airways, where British Airways conveyed the assurance that it remains committed to servicing the needs of travel agencies in Nigeria,” the association said.
“NANTA as partners to all the airlines in Nigeria has taken it as a responsibility to visit the carriers to empathise with them concerning their trapped funds and to re-affirm our commitment as trade partners.”
Aside Emirates Airlines that has made withdrawal notice public, no other airline has announced or expressed the desire to stop flying to Nigeria as far as we know.”
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in her efforts to halt the crisis in the aviation sector, has released $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sales.
Osita Nwanisobi, Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, said this in a statement on Friday.
Nwanisobi said Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor and his team were concerned about the development and what it portends for the sector and travellers as well as the country in the comity of nations.
He reiterated that the apex bank was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country, adding that what CBN stood for was an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so.
“A breakdown of the figure indicates that the sum of $230 million was released as a special FX intervention while another sum of $35 million was released through Retail SMIS auction,” the statement reads.
“With Friday’s release, it is expected that operators and travellers as well 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.”
Nigeria is facing a forex exchange crisis to meet various obligations, including revenue repatriation by foreign airlines and dollar requests by citizens and businesses.
Last week, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) said foreign airlines’ funds trapped in Nigeria increased from $450 million in May to $464 million in July.
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