Should the lockdown on aviation sector continue as a result of the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Association of Aviation Ground Handlers (AGHAN) is predicting that not less than N20 billion loss in revenue generations would hit the sector by the end of June 2020.
AGHAN membership who are some of the worst hit by the shutdown of aviation activities include the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) and Aviation Handling Services (AHS).
Chairman of AGHAN, Mr. Adigun Olaniyi, in an interview with aviation journalists at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos during the week, decried that the advent of Covid-19 virus had grounded handling business in the sector. He stressed that the partial relaxation of the lockdown by the Federal Government did not indicate the end to the crisis in the country.
Olaniyi who said that the essence of the association, which was inaugurated in December 2019, was to ensure sanity, fair play and entrench standards in the operational procedures of the ground handling business in Nigeria, warned that the losses of ground handlers could exceed the N20bn forecast if the airspace was not opened up by June 2020. He therefore, regretted that due to the pandemic, the entire first quarter of 2020 was wasted, while a major part of the second quarter was also lost to the crisis, stressing that only third and fourth quarter could be salvaged from whatever is remaining of the financial year of 2020.
