The
International Air Transport Association (IATA) called yesterday for countries
with tight currency exchange rate controls, including Venezuela and Nigeria, to
release $5 billion worth of local ticket sales revenues owed to foreign
airlines or risk losing their services.
Two
airlines, Lufthansa and LATAM Airlines, said they were halting flights to
Venezuela, with the German carrier saying the South American country owed it
more than $100 million in local ticket sales.
IATA
said that airline revenues worth $5 billion were being blocked by countries,
with Venezuela and Nigeria the biggest culprits, withholding $3.78 billion and
$591 million respectively.
Sudan, Egypt and Angola are also blocking the
repatriation of airlines’ revenues.
“The
efficient repatriation of revenues is critical for airlines to be able to play
their role as a catalyst for economic activity,” IATA’s Director General Tony
Tyler in a statement at the airline group’s annual meeting in Dublin said.
Currency
controls in Venezuela have caused airlines difficulties for some time, with
IATA saying the situation became critical in 2015, while in Nigeria,
repatriation issues began in the second half of last year.
Lufthansa is unable to access $20 million of ticket revenues in Nigeria because
of foreign exchange controls and could cut capacity if that amount grows,
sources have said. IATA said that the Nigerian authorities were in talks with
the airlines to seek possible measures to make the funds available.
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