Pricey Tickets As Trapped Funds Compel Foreign Airlines To Hike Airfares

Travelling by air to foreign countries through Nigerian airports have become increasingly expensive in the last few months due to inflation, trapped fund and hike in aviation fuel also known as Jet A1.

I gathered that international airfares on Nigerian routes have gone up further by over 20 per cent after foreign airlines raised the exchange rate for ticket sale from N462 per dollar to N551 per dollar.

This, according to aviation stakeholders, was to cushion the effect of the rising amount of foreign airlines trapped funds in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The foreign airlines have blocked the lower inventories that consist cheaper tickets to Nigerians making foreign airfare expensive.

According to travel agents, the increase in the exchange rate has led to over 20 per cent increase in international airfares.

National President, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, said Nigerians now travel across the borders in droves to connect cheaper flights to their destinations.

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According to her, the forex crisis has led to unjustifiable profiteering by foreign carriers, because the lower inventories of airlines are now shut against Nigerians, but opened in other neighboring countries, thereby, forcing Nigerians to seek cheaper flights across borders.

“The trade rules are obnoxious, not consistent with global best practices and the fares are unjustifiably high, all in reaction to trapped funds. We at this stage have reasons to believe there is more to it. The fares and practices are strangulating. 

“The implication of Nigerians crossing the borders to join international flights is obvious. We lose business because the sales won’t be attributed to any traveling agency. The government will lose as well because the government will lose the 5 percent Nigeria taxes on the ticket. Definitely, it will come down to ripple effect of loses to the industry.”

“The N300,000 fare that we can’t get in Nigeria, they are getting it in neighboring countries. Now, let’s do the mathematics, N300,000 to N3million. They won’t mind going to other neighboring countries to fly out especially if it’s not too far and it won’t cost them much.”

“We are selling our opportunities to other countries and that’s not fair because we can’t continue to give out our benefits, we are selling our rights to neighboring countries,” she lamented. This now means, Nigeria is at a disadvantage since the airlines seems to have mastered the art of exploiting the FOREX issue to their advantage.”

Meanwhile, the secretary general, Aviation Around Table Initiative (ARTI), Olumide Ohunayo, noted that the action of government on the matter has affected the country’s image as a country that is not investment friendly.

”The damage that our action has done to the Nigerian image as an investment friendly nation is far reaching, while the citizenry is faced with high fares, reduced capacity and limited travelling options, which will worsen if we continue on this trajectory. We found ourselves in this unenviable situation because we lack capacity to compete, which would have reduced the remittance volume,” he said.