The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, will brief President Bola Tinubu on the resolution reached between aviation sector unions and the Airline Operators of Nigeria over the lingering dispute surrounding the Ticket Sales Charge.

The development followed an emergency meeting convened by the minister on Thursday with the feuding parties, days after the unions suspended their industrial action that disrupted flight operations at major airports across the country.

The meeting, which lasted several hours in Abuja, produced a five-point resolution aimed at addressing the unions’ grievances over airlines’ outstanding TSC payments, workers’ freedom to join trade unions and the need to prevent further disruption to aviation operations.

The PUNCH learnt that Keyamo, who was out of the country, joined the meeting virtually via Zoom and presided over the deliberations.

Our correspondent further gathered that the minister had directed the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mahmud Kambari, to prepare two separate communications: a comprehensive brief for the President detailing the dispute, the deliberations and the resolutions reached, as well as a public statement outlining the outcome of the meeting.

According to the statement issued by the ministry following the meeting, the parties agreed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and other aviation agencies would obtain payment schedules from airlines with outstanding obligations.

The payments, the parties agreed, would be spread over a reasonable period, taking into account the airlines’ operating costs and the prevailing economic realities.

The statement further disclosed that Directors of Finance and Accounts across the aviation agencies would meet individually with the affected airlines within one week to agree on realistic repayment plans.

On the contentious issue of unionisation, the minister affirmed the right of aviation workers to decide for themselves whether or not to belong to a trade union. The ministry said the NCAA had consequently been directed to ensure that unions had direct access to workers across all airlines for the purpose of distributing union membership forms.

According to the resolution, workers, rather than airline management, would be allowed to independently indicate whether they wished to unionise. The ministry warned that airlines that prevented unions from having such direct access to workers would face sanctions from the NCAA.

The parties also agreed to reconvene after one month to assess the implementation of the resolutions and review the state of the dispute. The statement said the five resolutions represented the collective decisions of all parties at the meeting.

The resolutions read in part, “The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and other Heads of Aviation Agencies are to obtain a schedule of payments from the airlines, spread over a reasonable timeframe, taking into cognizance the airlines’ cost of operation and current economic realities.

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

On workers’ union rights, the statement said, “The Honourable Minister of Aviation recognizes the right of workers to decide not to belong or to belong to Unions; the Honourable Minister also recognizes the rights of the workers to decide for themselves, rather than through management.

“As a result, the NCAA should immediately ensure that the unions have direct access to the workers of ALL AIRLINES only to distribute their forms for the workers to directly indicate whether they intend to unionize or not. Any airline that prevents this direct interface will be sanctioned by the NCAA.”

Recall that the unions had embarked on industrial action on Tuesday over a number of grievances, including alleged failure by some airlines to remit the five per cent TSC to the NCAA and alleged interference with workers’ efforts to unionise.

The action, which particularly affected Air Peace, disrupted flight operations and left hundreds of passengers stranded at airports. However, following interventions by the Federal Government and other stakeholders, the unions suspended the action and agreed to further dialogue.

Keyamo, in the Thursday meeting, assured stakeholders that the government remained committed to resolving the issues without compromising the safety, efficiency and viability of the aviation industry.

The minister reiterated the commitment of the Tinubu administration to maintaining a “safe, efficient, peaceful and sustainable aviation industry.”

However, The PUNCH gathered that the meeting had earlier been scheduled by the authority, but members of the AON allegedly refused to show up.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH gathered that the Managing Director of Aero Contractors said he would have attended the meeting if the letter of invitation had been addressed to him in his capacity as an airline boss, as he might not necessarily be in tune with the position of the Airlines Operators of Nigeria.

Contacted for clarification, the airline boss confirmed his request, asking the NCAA to address each airline directly whenever a meeting is to be convened.

He said, “Whenever the NCAA wants an airline to attend a meeting, they shouldn’t write to the AON; rather, they should write to the airline. If the meeting is that important, the DG should sign a letter requesting that each AOC holder attend. For instance, if I have a different view from the AON, I won’t attend such a meeting. It is very simple.”

Our correspondent gathered that the minister immediately agreed that letters should be addressed to individual airlines going forward.