Nigerian airlines suspended a plan to shut down operations nationwide due to soaring oil costs after a government appeal to suspend any action until talks later this week.
A trade group of about a dozen domestic airlines said it will hold off the shutdown after reaching “a concessionary but conditional decision” during an emergency meeting with the Nigerian aviation minister. Airlines have been among the businesses hardest hit by the impact of the Iran war, with some of the continent’s largest carriers suffering multimillion-dollar losses.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, depends on one major private refiner for local supplies: Aliko Dangote, the billionaire industrialist who operates the refinery, warned last week at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC that the “majority of African airlines won’t be able to survive” the evolving oil price crisis.
