Aviation minister Festus Keyamo has pleaded with airline operators in Nigeria to shelve plans to suspend all flight operations over the hike in Jet A1 fuel, which currently costs N3300 per litre, up from N900.

Such a move, Mr Keyamo said, could reverse the gains achieved by President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope reforms in the aviation sector.

Mr Keyamo wrote to the president of the airline operators on Thursday, appealing for restraint over a proposed suspension of flights scheduled for next week.

“I urge your members to exercise restraint with respect to any proposed increase in airfares at this time,” the aviation minister pleaded.

While acknowledging the financial pain from the jet fuel increase, Mr Keyamo said any sharp increase in flight ticket prices could throttle the economy.

“Any immediate upward adjustment in ticket prices would impose significant hardship on the travelling public, potentially depress demand, and limit accessibility to air transport for a broad segment of Nigerians,” he explained.

The minister asked the airline operators to reconsider “any planned suspension of flight operations”, stressing that such action would cripple the economy and “disrupt critical mobility and logistics networks”.

He stated that a hike in airfares would not only erode public confidence but also “undermine the progress recorded under the ongoing reforms within the aviation sector”.