A dispute over about N300 million in unpaid ground handling bills has escalated into a service stoppage for XEJET, leaving the airline without the support of members of the Aviation Ground Handlers Association of Nigeria (AGHAN) at the airports where they operate.
The action took effect on Monday after AGHAN directed its members to stop providing ground handling services to XEJET that the airline had failed to meet agreed repayment terms despite several efforts to recover the outstanding debt.
The decision came after an earlier seven-day ultimatum issued to indebted domestic airlines requiring them to pay at least 75 percent of their outstanding obligations or face suspension of ground handling services.
AGHAN later suspended the wider action after some affected airlines presented repayment plans and began making payments. XEJET,however failed to meet the terms agreed with its ground handlers prompting the withdrawal of services.
Olaniyi Adigun the president of AGHAN and Bashir Ahmed the vice president said the association had made several attempts to resolve the debt issue before directing its members to stop handling XEJET.
The withdrawal affects ground support services provided by AGHAN members with reports indicating that some XEJET passengers’ check-in luggage was transferred to another domestic airline for processing after the action began.
AGHAN said several other domestic airlines that were previously affected by the debt issue had submitted workable repayment schedules and started settling their obligations.
The association said ground handling companies are also facing rising equipment and the operating staff costs cannot continue providing services without receiving payment for work already done.
AGHAN added that the XEJET action could be applied to other airlines that fail to honour agreed payment arrangements putting pressure on carriers with outstanding ground handling debts.
