By Favour Nnabugwu

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

This move is to help reduce the crisis in the aviation industry

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.

Confirming the release in a statement, the Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi said: “The Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team were concerned about the development and what it portends for the sector and travelers as well as the country in the comity of nations.”

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

The CBN noted that with the release, it is expected that operators and travellers as well will heave a huge sigh of relief as some airlines had threatened to withdraw their services in the face of unremitted funds for outstanding sale of tickets.

Recall that Emirate Airlines announced on August 18 that it “has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective 01 September 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market”.