The Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, on Thursday directed the management of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited to immediately stop the collection of N2,500 Passenger Service Charge from domestic air travellers.


BASL, which manages the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two in Lagos, had on July 7, announced a 150 per cent increase in the PSC, from N1,000 to N2,500, on every flight ticket purchased at its facility, and commenced the collection of the increased charge on Monday, July 11.


A statement from the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Mr. Joe Obi, made available to our correspondent in Lagos on Thursday, said that the directive was contained in a letter addressed to the Managing Director of BASL and signed on behalf of the minister by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Ms. Anne Ene-Ita.


The letter reads in part, “The Federal Ministry of Aviation has not given any approval to Bi-Courtney Limited to charge the sum of N2,500 as Passenger Service Charge.


“There is a procedure in the concession agreement, which must be adhered to and until then, you are to desist from the collection of the PSC.”


But in a swift reaction, the Head, Corporate Communications, BASL, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, told journalists that Bi-Courtney had yet to receive the notice of stoppage of the collection from the ministry.


According to him, the firm only got to know about the development on the Facebook page of the minister.


“As of now (Thursday evening), we have not received any letter to that effect. We have only read about it on the minister’s Facebook page,” he said.


It will be recalled that the increase by BASL came barely one week after the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria increased its own PSC from N350 to N1,000 across all the 22 airports under its management.


The company had explained that the fee would be used to maintain its terminal, noting that since it began operations in 2007, the annual cost of running the terminal had been increasing phenomenally.


BASL had argued that since December 22, 2006, it obtained approval from the various authorities to charge $15 and N350, a total of about N3,000.


Reacting to the increase, the President, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Dr. Steve Mahonwu, had said that the development would lead to a slight adjustment in fares.


“Yes, we are aware of FAAN and Bi-Courtney increasing the PSC, but the price difference on the ticket may not be much,” he said.


Meanwhile, Obi said that the minister’s directive on the PSC had been copied to the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, to ensure strict compliance.

Passenger Service Charge my foot.
Whoever introduced that should be arrested and charged to court .
After paying almost 30k to purchase a ticket, you then have to pay one useless PSC.
Banana Republic

I'm still waiting for the minister to order airlines to reduce the costs of tickets.

What nonsense?

Isn't that MM2 supposed to be privately managed or something? This government people will never understand its demand and supply, if you can not afford it, you leave. There are other means of transportation. This is how this people ran down every government business in the land.