Yuletide: Travel hurdles loom as airfares rise
There is widespread concern over the high cost of air tickets on the domestic routes as passengers pay through their nose amidst insecurity which has increased patronage for air travels, Daily Trust reports. Checks by our correspondents showed that airfares across all routes covered by domestic airlines have gone significantly high. Business owners groan over […]
There is widespread concern over the high cost of air tickets on the domestic routes as passengers pay through their nose amidst insecurity which has increased patronage for air travels, Daily Trust reports.
Checks by our correspondents showed that airfares across all routes covered by domestic airlines have gone significantly high.
Airlines including Arik, Dana, Air Peace, Overland, Azman, among others have all increased their charges.
This is the situation in recent days as airfares have gone up by 100 per cent.
Findings revealed that passengers who plan their trips far ahead of their travel time may enjoy some level of flexibility while booking their tickets.
However, any impromptu booking could see passengers paying exorbitant fares to get to their destinations.
Lagos-Abuja
Passengers are now paying between N50, 000 to N60, 000 for a one-way trip from Lagos-Abuja.
For instance, a one-way Lagos-Abuja flight on Dana Air for a journey booked 48 hours ahead goes for between N52, 000 and N55, 000. The same goes for as high as N60, 000 on Air Peace and N71, 500 on Azman Air.
Lagos-Enugu flight on some of the airlines cost between N61, 000 and N72, 500 and a check on one of the airlines indicated that premium economy ticket which is the only available option on its website goes for 104,000 on a one-way flight.
Lagos-Ilorin flight cost between N52, 500 and N56, 000 on Overland. Air Peace’s Lagos-Owerri flight one-way goes for between N60, 000 and N95, 400.
As at the time of filing this report, tickets to Kaduna from Lagos which goes for between N60, 000 and N70, 000 have been fully booked.
Check on Azman Air’s flight from Lagos to Kano indicates that the ticket has gone to as high as N84, 000.
Prospective passengers can, however, get it at N46, 258 for the route if they book ahead of time.
Ticket racketeering deepens
Amidst the rising cost of airfares is the prevalent ticket racketeering which has manifestly deepened within the airport environment.
A passenger who narrated his experience to Daily Trust at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, recalled how one of the airport workers approached a passenger to trade his ticket for another passenger who was pressed for time.
“This was however not free, the desperate passenger paid additional money before he got the ticket,” the passenger said.
Another passenger on a Lagos-Kaduna flight, Musa Inuwa, who travelled on Wednesday, lamented that he had to pay over N80, 000 for a one-way ticket simply because he couldn’t book on time.
“I bought the ticket at the counter and it was expected that the price would be too high. I had planned to go earlier but I got a call that I needed to be in Kaduna as soon as possible. So, I was left with no other option than to buy a very expensive ticket. Going by road was certainly not an option for me,” the passenger said.
A traveller who doesn’t want her name mentioned said, “I was stranded when I came to Kano because I couldn’t get a return ticket to Abuja. An agent I called charged me N65, 000 for a ticket from Kano to Abuja. I paid N40, 000 to Kano on the same flight, so I was amazed,” she added.
“I was sceptical because I didn’t know him so I decided to reach out to the one who booked for me. He demanded N50, 000 which I had to pay because I had no other option.
“The amazing thing was that the ticket I got had someone else’s name on it. Can you imagine? If anything had happened (like an accident), I won’t be on the manifest because I flew with another person’s name.
“I was afraid of travelling by road to Abuja because of the insecurity on that road,” she added.
Another traveller, Mohammed Aliyu, said, “Air travelling has become expensive and now a hot cake. It takes the grace of God for one to even get the ticket online not to talk of getting it over the counter.
“Within 30 minutes of opening a site, you will see all tickets sold out. People just go and buy off the tickets and later resell at exorbitant prices. Some even go ahead by two to three days trying to book and resell later. This is very bad.
“Can you believe that a one-way ticket can go for as high as N80, 000? This is because our roads are no longer safe, desperate people buy the tickets no matter the cost,” he said.
Threats to yuletide travels
Analysts observed that the high cost of air tickets is scaring away passengers.
They noted that the yuletide travels could be hampered if the current trend of airfare hike continued.
With airfares already liberalized by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) which gives the airlines power to fix fares in line with the dictate of the market, they are left with no option than to adjust fares in a way to recover the high cost of operation.
“Airlines must recover the fixed costs of their operations from reduced service as well as pay for mostly imported products and services in a dollar hike,” said Capt. Alex Nwuba, President of Aircraft Pilots and Owners’ Association.
According to him, this is the reality that everybody must face as airlines must survive.
The Chief Executive Officer of Aglow Aviation Services Limited, Mr Tayo Ojuri, attributed the hike in airfares to low demand for air travels since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As I said, aviation is a catalyst for the economy. It is going to reduce the growth of the economy as well and you just find out that other forms of transportation would take advantage of that. This could also lead to the demise of a lot of other airlines. This is what we are witnessing in the last few days, unfortunately,” he said.
He called for the intervention of the government through the timely disbursement of the proposed N5bn bailout to airlines.
Ojuri, however, reiterated that the N5bn intervention may not address the high cost of operation of airlines, describing it as “a salary support palliative and not operational support palliative.”
Also, with aviation business highly dollarized, any fluctuation in the exchange market could hamper airline business components in terms of acquisition of aircraft, its parts and spares, payment of training of crew members, among others.
This development, according to analysts and stakeholders, contributes in no small way to the high cost of operation incurred by airlines.
Despite the current challenges, some of the operators, however, insist there is no deliberate move to fleece the travelling public with the present exorbitant airfares.
A spokesperson with Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, stated that there is nothing unusual with the perceived hike in fares.
He said, “It is just the common laws of economics -demand and supply, but that said, we always advise our passengers to plan their trips with us to get the best fares and what we have is a progressive fare regime so it won’t favour you if you don’t book early. Comparatively, our fares are still far better I can assure you.”
Insecurity is another factor
Findings revealed that the current wave of insecurity in the country including kidnapping and banditry have forced people to go for the air travel option.
From Lagos to the North, East or the Southern parts of the country, Nigerians describe road travel as not only excruciating but risky.
Not only that Nigerian roads have been described as death traps, ongoing construction works across the country, especially on the ever-busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway have also made road travel a tough adventure.
Thus, aviation remains the fastest and quickest means of transportation and the avenue to facilitate businesses.
Experts said economic recovery could be slowed down with the current prohibitive airfares.
It was the House of Representatives through its committee on aviation that first raised an alarm over the high cost of air tickets and warned that the trend could be detrimental to the economy unless the federal government takes steps to address the underlying issues triggering the hike.
The chairman of the committee, Nnolim Nnaji, urged the federal government to immediately address the challenges confronting domestic airline operators, noting that an hour flight has risen to between N80, 000 and N100, 000.
There are fears that the price would increase further following the lack of access to foreign exchange by the airlines, as well as the high cost of aviation fuel known as Jet A1.
The operators equally listed high-interest rates on loans, multiple taxations, and multiple entry points granted foreign airlines among others as major challenges affecting them.
The house committee, which had last week briefed the press on the precarious conditions of domestic airlines, hinted that the situation could be responsible for the present hike in airfares.
Nnaji, however, suggested that a forex window similar to that offered to foreign airlines should be opened to the domestic airlines. This, he noted, will enable them to access foreign exchange at the official rate.
He observed that air transportation remains the vehicle that drives other businesses and therefore should not be neglected.
He further noted that the security situation in the country at the moment has placed higher demands on air transportation as the safest means of travel.
Other stakeholders said after over four months of shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hike in airfares is inevitable given the several safety protocols that operators were made to comply with before the regulatory authority, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) approved their restart plan.