Ticket sales Crisis: CBN releases $265m to airlines

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the sum of $265 million to airlines operating in the country, to settle outstanding ticket sales.

The move is to check the financial crisis rocking the country’s aviation sector.

CBN Director, Corporate Communications Department Osita Nwanisobi, confirmed the development, saying that the apex Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team were concerned about the development and its effects in the sector, travelers, as well as, the country in the comity of nations.

A breakdown of the figure indicates that the sum of $230 million was released as special FX intervention while another sum of $35 million was released through Retail SMIS Secondary Market Intervention Sales) auction.

Nwanisobi stressed that the CBN was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country, adding that what the CBN stood for was an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so.

With the release of the funds, it is expected that operators and travelers would now heave huge sighs of relief.

Following the crisis, some airlines had threatened to withdraw their services due to a backlog of unremitted funds for outstanding ticket sales in the country.