Airport cab operators have appealed to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to extend the October 2026 deadline for replacing vehicles manufactured before 2012.
The operators said the cost of acquiring compliant vehicles, estimated at between N15m and N18m or more, was beyond the reach of many small businesses and individual drivers.
Chairman of the airport cab operators, Prince Amosola, made the appeal while speaking with journalists in Abuja.
He said the operators supported FAAN’s efforts to improve safety, comfort and service delivery at Nigerian airports.
However, Amosola said the financial burden of the policy could force some operators out of business.
“From N15 million and above. N18 million and above,” he said when asked about the cost of acquiring a compliant vehicle.
The operators said they were not opposed to the vehicle upgrade policy but needed more time to raise funds and replace their fleets gradually.
They also cited low patronage and rising operational costs as major challenges confronting airport cab businesses.
Ekwuemeaku Alex of Edom Comfort Auto Lease Ltd said a driver could make between N20,000 and N25,000 from a trip.
However, he said fuel and other expenses could reduce the amount left to about N10,000.
He added that the number of vehicles operating at the airport had increased while passenger demand remained limited.
“Some drivers could wait for several days before securing another passenger,” he said.
Another operator, Aliu Abdulazee Aliu of Gentle Drive, said those who acquired vehicles through hire-purchase arrangements faced an even greater financial burden.
“For one vehicle of N18 million, the principle of hire purchase is doubling the price,” Aliu said.
He said the cost of recovering such an investment through airport trips remained a major concern.
According to him, a typical trip to town could attract about N25,000, while fuel for taking the passenger to the destination and returning to the airport could consume between N15,000 and N17,000.
“That vehicle that is carrying N25,000, if that vehicle will go to town, drop the passenger and come back, is going to buy fuel between N15,000 to N17,000,” he said.
The operators said other expenses, including FAAN’s operational charge, vehicle washing, maintenance and repairs, could leave drivers with as little as N4,000 from a N25,000 trip.
FAAN recently increased its airport cab operational tariff from N500 to N1,500.
The authority said the previous charge had remained unchanged for more than eight years despite inflation, rising maintenance costs and other economic pressures.
FAAN has maintained that the vehicle upgrade policy is aimed at ensuring passengers use clean, roadworthy and comfortable vehicles.
The authority also said operators had been granted several extensions, including deadlines in January and June 2026, before the latest October deadline.
But the operators argued that the current economic realities had made it difficult for many of them to raise the required funds.
They also disclosed that they had explored electric vehicles following discussions with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo.
Amosola said some electric vehicles being considered cost about N38m, while another operator said a financing proposal put the cost above N60m.
The operators said such prices were beyond the capacity of most small airport transport businesses.
Emmanuel Ikeh Sunday, Secretary-General of the Coalition of 17 Car-Hire Companies, also raised concerns about vehicles converted under the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas initiative.
He said about 80 per cent of their vehicles had been converted to CNG, but more than 99 per cent of those vehicles did not meet the 2012-and-above requirement.
He warned that withdrawing the vehicles before operators recovered their investment in the CNG conversions would create another financial burden.
The operators said they were ready to compete with e-hailing services and other transport providers but wanted all airport transport operators to operate under comparable conditions.
They urged FAAN to approve a longer transition period to enable them to continue using existing vehicles while gradually replacing them.
The operators stressed that their appeal was not a rejection of higher vehicle standards but a request for a transition period that takes into account the financial capacity of small businesses and individual drivers.
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