Nigeria reaches airport renovation milestone, but exorbitant taxes hinder domestic airline growth

Nigeria's aviation transformation programme is making good progress with the government's extensive airport renovation project of 22 federal airports reaching the half-way stage and the remaining 11 airports to be remodelled by 2015.

Foreign carriers, attracted by Nigeria's 170 million population and economic potential are also bringing in more capacity, in particular Ethiopian and Emirates, while Arik and Gol are preparing to reopen a direct link between Nigeria and Brazil for the first time in about 20 years.

But domestic carriers continue to struggle under the burden of massive debt, high operating costs and the prospect of increased competition from a proposed new national carrier and potential start-ups.