FCCPC, NCAA to investigate airfare hike by airlines

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) has announced a Joint Technical Committee with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to investigate the coordinated increase in airfares. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the executive vice chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, said the investigation was to disclose whether airlines breached regulations while fixing the […]

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) has announced a Joint Technical Committee with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to investigate the coordinated increase in airfares.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the executive vice chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, said the investigation was to disclose whether airlines breached regulations while fixing the new base price of N50,000.

While noting that the airlines have the liberty to fix prices commensurate with economic realities, Irukera said the occurrence of the change in price needed to determine if the aviation industry was operated by a group of cartels.

He said, “We are not saying that they are wrong to change the price they will charge their passengers, but we want to know if there is a breach of procedure in fixing it. This is a free market, but we need to know if the new price was fixed with fairness to passengers.

“However, investigating a cartel is very intricate, very intense and sometimes very protracted. But some of the questions appear to be coordinated on the issue. It would be inappropriate as a regulator to literally conclude with an absence of a more detailed investigation.”

He added that what suggested there could be a cartel in the sector was, “The news item that noted some meetings occurred; that the base line was set. There is some evidence that some airlines proceeded with the baseline.”

On his part, the director general of NCAA, Capt Musa Shuaibu Nuhu, while stating that the sector was facing various challenges, from increase in fuel price to inaccessibility to forex, among others, said by law, it was required that the airlines gave a seven-day notice to effect change in airfares.

He said, “In our regulation, the airfares are deregulated subject to meeting certain conditions. The airlines are expected to submit to NCAA at least seven days before any increase, and we are supposed to weigh and see if the increases appear considerate to many factors.”