The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that Nigeria is no longer among the countries where airline revenues are stuck. This was revealed during IATA’s annual general meeting. According to Kamil Al-Awadhi, the regional vice president for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, Nigeria has made big improvements in making sure airlines can access their money.

In the past, several countries were holding back airline earnings, but things are getting better in places like Nigeria, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Al-Awadhi said Nigeria has improved enough to be taken off the list of countries with blocked airline funds.

Still, the issue isn’t fully solved in the region. As of April, airlines globally are unable to access about $1.28 billion of their money. A large part of that — $1.1 billion — is stuck in countries within Africa and the Middle East. Out of that amount, African countries alone are holding back around $919 million.

Mozambique is currently the worst country for this issue, followed by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (known as the XAF Zone), Algeria, Lebanon, and Angola. These countries are still making it difficult for airlines to get their money.

Al-Awadhi pointed out that not letting airlines access their funds causes many problems. It reduces how often airlines can fly, cuts travel options for people, and makes foreign investors think twice before doing business in those countries. He called on governments to treat aviation as a key sector and to make it easier for airlines to get the foreign exchange they need.

Nigeria once had the highest amount of blocked airline funds in the world — about $850 million — due to a major shortage of foreign exchange. In response to pressure from the airline industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria began releasing the funds in 2022. The effort continued under the current government, and by March 2024, the bank said it had cleared the entire backlog. IATA confirmed that 98% of the funds had been paid out.