The Federal Government has given airlines a one-week deadline to reach agreements on repayment plans for outstanding Ticket Sales Charges owed to aviation agencies.

The directive was issued by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in a statement posted on his official X account on Thursday.

The meeting followed an emergency session convened by Keyamo with airlines, aviation unions and heads of aviation agencies to address issues arising from the unions’ industrial action on Tuesday, August 11.

Keyamo directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and other aviation agency heads to obtain payment schedules from airlines, with repayment plans spread over a reasonable period while considering the airlines’ operating costs and prevailing economic conditions.

“The Directors Finance and Accounts in all Aviation Agencies are to meet individual Airlines to agree on realistic repayment plan within one week,” the statement read.

The minister also reaffirmed workers’ freedom to decide whether to join a union, directing the NCAA to facilitate direct access for unions to employees across all airlines.

He said unions should distribute membership forms directly to workers, enabling them to independently indicate whether they wish to become union members.

Keyamo said the NCAA would sanction any airline that prevents unions from having direct access to its workers.

The stakeholders also agreed to reconvene in one month to assess progress on the resolutions and review the situation in the aviation sector.

According to the minister, the resolutions reflect the collective decisions reached by all parties at the meeting.

The aviation unions’ industrial action on Tuesday, August 11, was prompted by concerns over the alleged failure of airlines to remit TSC and issues surrounding workers’ freedom of association.

The National Union of Air Transport Employees alleged that domestic airlines had accumulated more than N25 billion in outstanding TSC with Air Peace reportedly accounting for over N17 billion.

NUATE President, Ben Nnabue, said the unions were demanding that workers be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of association in accordance with Nigerian laws and international labour conventions.

Meanwhile, the President of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, John Ogbe, expressed concerns over the widespread use of casual workers and the lack of collective bargaining agreements among some airlines.