After a meeting in Lagos, domestic airline operators have resolved to increase airfares by 100% with effect from next week, March 1. The increment will be across the board.
There are indications that some of the airlines have already fixed some of the fares that will come into effect on March 1.
It could be recalled that the airlines, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had issued a statement complaining about the current high cost of aviation fuel.
They revealed that, “aviation fuel cost above N410 in Lagos, N422 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and N429 in Kano per litre, while the dollar, which sells for between N580 to N600 is in short supply.”
The airlines also expressed anger at the Unavailability of Forex for spare parts and maintenance.
Airlines carry out most of their activities in dollars which today sells for between N580 to N600 and is in short supply. Nigeria’s domestic airlines are in a ‘life and death struggle to secure the Forex they need to acquire their spare parts to maintain their aircraft.”
“This is a major influence on how quickly a grounded aircraft can be fixed and restored to its flight schedule, which in turn has a huge impact on the schedule reliability of the domestic airlines,” AON said.
As of the time of filing this report, the civil aviation regulatory authority, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has not issued any statement on the new fares. A source within the authority however said airfares have since been ” deregulated by NCAA, leaving market forces to determine the price.”
” NCAA only intervenes when an airline fixes ridiculously low airfares. That can compromise safety standards as operations of any airline is capital intensive,” he said.
