Flight tickets for international airlines have dropped significantly in the past few weeks, from N4 million for return economy class to N1.5 million.
Stakeholders cited the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) directive to foreign airlines to open reduced inventories, as well as Air Peace’s entry into the Lagos-London market, as the leading causes of the collapse of international airline tickets nationwide.
The NCAA, Air Peace factor
Air Peace recently announced the opening of its Lagos-London route on February 28, 2024. As a result, it declared that a return business class ticket would cost N4 million and a return economy class ticket would cost N1.2 million. Similarly, the airline reduced the airfare for Nigerian students studying in the UK by 15%.
Additionally, the acting director general of the NCAA, Chris Najomo, appointed Horatius Egua as chair of the committee to oversee compliance by foreign airlines with government directives. The group was mandated to unblock low-inventory tickets that have been unavailable for more than 18 months and to recommend fair ticket prices for Nigeria compared to comparable markets in the West African sub-region.
Stakeholders React
Leadership reported that Susan Akporiaye, president of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), attributed the decline in international airline ticket prices to the organisation’s persistent campaign against foreign carriers limiting their cheaper inventory to Nigerian travellers. Akporiaye claims that the NCAA was drawn to the association’s efforts and that this caused them to send out a circular directing all airlines to allow Nigerians to purchase their lesser inventory.
She stated: “Also, that coincided with the Air Peace coming into the London market; that is what competition can achieve. I believe we can also have lower fares with the consistency of Air Peace. Air Peace was doing a promo and slashing airfare for students, so that is what we will get when more players enter the market. “Before now, economy class tickets used to be between N3 million or N4 million, but now, it has been reduced to between N1.5 million and N1.8 million. Also, first class and business class fares have reduced drastically, and travelling has been made affordable.”
The former Vice President, South West, NANTA, Yinka Folami, said to sustain the achievement, the government, through the NCAA, should sustain monitoring and regulatory functions on the foreign airlines. He also advised that the government and stakeholders should support Air Peace to succeed on the route, saying:
“Nigerians must buy and patronise local service for the naira to grow”.
He also confirmed that ticket prices had been slashed to between N1.4 million and N1.5 million, depending on their availability.
“Presently, it depends on availability because on some of the airlines, we can get tickets for an average region of N1.4 million and N1.5 million, and that depends on availability, and that’s what competition does. “Two things are responsible for the opening up of the lower inventory and lowering sales by the airlines. One, there is a government directive to open up lower inventories, and that was given through the NCAA and Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) so; the directives from both FG organisations helped to open the lower inventory, and that is one of the causes of fare reduction.
“Also, Air Peace coming to the market also contributed, and that’s what competition does all over the world because with Air Peace, we can get N1.2 million or N1.5 million, and it depends on the availability, and when we have new players coming in, we will see the reaction. “Before now, it used to be the economy class ticket between N3 million and N4 million; sometimes, we can get an economy class ticket for an average of N1.4 million. Also, as a function of availability, we can get N1.1 million or N1.2 million on Air Peace.
Air Peace shares an important update
Allen Onyema, the Chairman and CEO of Air Peace Limited, explained that the airline finally chose Gatwick Airport to operate its Lagos-London flight against the previously chosen Heathrow, beginning March 30, 2024.
Onyema, who spoke on Arise TV, said the decision was borne out of the fact that the UK authorities initially refused to allow the airline to operate in Heathrow. He said this is despite both countries signing the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA). The agreement allows countries involved to operate in each other’s primary airports.
