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Two Nigerian airlines have suspended their flight operations within less than 24 hours apart as Nigeria’s economic challenges continue to impact on local businesses.

Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s second largest carrier after Arik Air, announced on Wednesday that it had suspended scheduled services and placed all staff on indefinite leave because of the impact of the “external environment” on the company’s operations.

“The impact of the external environment has been very harsh on our operational performance, hence the management decision to suspend scheduled services operations indefinitely effective September 1, 2016, pending when the external opportunities and a robust sustainable and viable plan is in place for Aero Contractors to recommence its scheduled services,” the airline said in a statement.

On Thursday, First Nation Airways placed itself on a “self-regulatory suspension” to undertake scheduled maintenance on its aircraft, according to Muhtar Usman, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

“The First Nation Airlines on its part is in the middle of an engine replacement programme for one of its aircrafts. Another aircraft is due for mandatory maintenance as allowed by the regulatory authority,” Usman said.

The shut down of the domestic carriers comes as official data confirmed that Nigeria’s economy slipped into a recession, with GDP contracting by 0.36 percent and 2.1 percent in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively.

Nigerian airlines have been particularly impacted by the country’s lingering foreign exchange crisis, which has restricted access to FX for conducting regular maintenance checks on aircrafts and also caused a spike in the cost of aviation fuel.