Airlines booked significant losses in currency depreciation, despite Nigeria and Egypt wiping the slate clean by paying off the bulk of the money they owed airlines in blocked funds. This hugely impacted small African airlines that often operate from a high-cost base, as they had to write off a big percentage of assumed revenues from sales in Nigeria and other African countries.
In one extreme case, one airline lost as much as 60 percent of accumulated funds to currency depreciation, industry sources revealed.
