Minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, has noted that a lot of airlines will not survive the economic crisis as a result of COVID-19.

Sirika who spoke during the briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 yesterday, said though COVID-19 has affected different sectors of the economy, aviation is the worst-hit.

He tagged the aviation industry loss since the beginning of COVID-19 at N24billion, while adding that the loss can never be regained.

“Certainly in civil aviation, we’re in very difficult moments like everyone else. All of this started because someone travelled. Unfortunately, he came back hone with it and the consequence is what we’ve been going through,” he said.

“We are very aware of our responsibilities and the weight attached to this. We are worst hit among all the sectors. Some 17 billion is being lost by the airlines monthly, thanks to COVID-19. The sector is highly regulated and very coordinated and has set standards that must be followed at all times, regardless, because we speak to safety.

“This is the situation of civil aviation. It is really a pathetic one and I can guarantee you that several airlines won’t come out of this unfortunately. Based on the trend of events prior to COVID-19, the total loss is about N21 billion approximately plus about N3 billion. It is divided in this form: N7 billion for aviation (what they lose in a month), N10 billion for airlines, N4 billion for ground handling, catering, etc., and then the taxation is N3 billion.

“Also, since you’re interested in dollars, what we got from the International Airline Transport Association (IATA), they’ve given us economic impact on Africa’s largest aviation markets. That for Nigeria, lost airline revenue is $994 million and in terms of employment at risk, 125,370. Loss of contribution to the GDP of the country is $885 million. Now these are IATA figures.”