Much ado about fares for international flights

Nigerians are adjudged amongst the most widely travelled nationals across the surface of the earth. The lure to get on board the aircraft to the next destination is usually propelled by business, commerce; trading, conferences, leisure and most recently search for a greener pasture, commonly referred to as “JAPA”.

Before the advent of Air Peace on the scene with its maiden flight since March 30, 2024, many indigenous carriers have operated the route with a litany of challenges.Experts say attributing the entrance of Air Peace on the route as the major cause for a significant drop in air fares may not be the entire narrative.To drive this, the NCAA had set up a 10- man committee to achieve low fare inventory by foreign carriers for the country.

“In the last several months, Nigerians have been made to pay higher fares on international flights unjustly as all the foreign airlines increased their flight tickets astronomically citing the high exchange rate as well as other sundry issues and also deliberately blocked low inventory tickets making travel unbearable for Nigerians.”

He said: “Competition is good but before Air Peace came onboard, foreign airlines have been speaking to the International Air Transport Association and the government on releasing low inventories. This discussion has been going on for a while now. Also speaking, President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies , Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, explained that shortly before Air Peace started flights to London, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority had threatened to sanction foreign airlines that failed to release low ticket inventories.

But, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said the significant reduction in international airfares by foreign airlines operating the Nigeria-UK route is an attempt to prematurely remove Air Peace from the route.

He warned that if these foreign airlines succeed, Nigerians would face considerably higher fares than the current rates.“The idea is to take Air Peace out. The moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over,” he stated. Air Peace launched its Lagos-London route on March 30 to provide quality travel experience and make international trips affordable.

The withdrawal of low inventory fares by the foreign carriers saw airlines like Virgin Atlantic increase fares on the economy class to N2.353,200 for just a seat while the business class skyrocketed to N5,345,700 on the Lagos-London route.

Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

NEC okays take off of $617m i-DICE programme nation-wideThe Nation Newspaper NEC okays take off of $617m i-DICE programme nation-wide
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

NEC okays take-off of $617mn i-DICE programme nation-wideThe Nation Newspaper NEC okays take-off of $617mn i-DICE programme nation-wide
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

State policing will address existing flaws in nation’s security framework, says NGFThe Nation Newspaper State policing will address existing flaws in nation's security framework, says NGF
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

20 held as Yoruba Nation agitators invade Oyo secretariatThe Nation Newspaper 20 held as Yoruba Nation agitators invade Oyo secretariat
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

JUST IN: Tension as suspected Yoruba Nation agitators invade Oyo SecretariatThe Nation Newspaper JUST IN: Tension as suspected Yoruba Nation agitators invade Oyo Secretariat
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

Tambuwal tasks Nigerians on nation buildingThe Nation Newspaper Tambuwal tasks Nigerians on nation building
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »