The total revenue generated by two of the major oil marketing companies in the country from the sale of aviation fuel plunged by 58.2 per cent in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period of 2019.

The nation’s airports were closed on March 23 to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country but the Federal Government started reopening them on July 8.

The oil marketing companies, Total Nigeria Plc and MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, saw their combined aviation fuel revenue for the period ended September 30 decline by N14.9bn to N10.7bn from N25.6bn in the first three quarters of 2019.

Its revenue fell by 32 per cent to N151.7bn from N221.8bn.

MRS Oil Nigeria Plc made a loss of N880.5m in the first nine months of the year, compared to N1.1bn loss in 2019. The company saw its revenue drop to N31.5bn from N47.2bn.

Checks by our correspondent showed that aviation fuel sales revenue accounted for five per cent of MRS Oil Nigeria’s total revenue in the nine months of 2020, down from 12 per cent in the same period of 2019.

The company’s aviation fuel revenue declined by 71.43 per cent to N1.6bn in the first three quarters of 2020 from the N5.6bn recorded in 2019.

Aviation fuel revenue accounted for six per cent of Total Nigeria’s revenue in the nine months of the year, down from nine per cent in 2019.

The company’s aviation fuel revenue tumbled by 54.27 per cent to N9.1bn in the first three quarters from the N19.9bn recorded in 2019.

The nation’s aviation sector has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused significant pay cuts and job losses.

Recently, over 70 pilots were sacked by Air Peace while Bristow Helicopters fired over 100 pilots and engineers.

Similarly, 10 workers, including six pilots, were sacked by Azman Air on Saturday.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, assured on November 2 that the Federal Government would soon start the disbursement of the N5bn bailout it approved for operators in the aviation sector.

Sirika stated this at the opening of a three-day public hearing on the six executive bills meant to reorganise the civil aviation agencies in the country.

He said the airline operators would get N4bn while other businesses in the aviation sector would be given N1bn.

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