Transport costs: Nigerians appeal for FG’s intervention as airfares skyrockets

…Fret over insecurity, poor state of roads,

…Charges, fuel costs remain stable

With the sorry state of roads nationwide and a lack of effective rail connections, Nigerians’ are left with no alternative but to travel by air.

However, with airfares hitting the rooftop and hitting an all-time high of nearly N250,000 to some destinations for one-way tickets, it is now out of the reach of the average Nigerian as many have shunned air travel because they can no longer afford air travel.

From next month, some destinations that have only one airline servicing the route could cost more.

As the Yuletide approaches, airfares to many destinations, especially to the South East and South which see huge traffic during the period could be as high as N400,000 and N500,000 for a one-way economy ticket.

At the moment, domestic air travel between N130,000 and N180,000 for a one-way trip has seen airlines recording very low passenger traffic.

Investigations by Aviation Metric revealed that in the last six months, passenger traffic has been unsurprisingly low and it is attributed to the general cash squeeze, hike in airfares and low purchasing power of many Nigerians.

Our correspondent also gathered that while many Nigerians would prefer to travel by air instead of by road due to insecurity, the high airfares remain a disincentive because many Nigerians cannot afford the high fares.

A frequent flier on the domestic route who gave his name as Mike Chinedu said that passenger turnout has become drastically low for a long time and has continued to be low.

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“I think high fares are the major cause. People are still travelling but it is not like before. Most of the airlines are charging high fares, beginning from about N150, 000, N200, 000 and more especially those who buy last-minute tickets. It can even be higher. All the airlines are involved. They said that was the only way they could survive, ”he said.

A former Assistant Secretary-General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Alhaji Mohammed Tukur said what the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo needs to do is to help bring down the numerous charges by the aviation agencies and give waivers on charges to the airlines to reduce rising air fares.

‘There are lots of charges in aviation that people do not know about. The charges for little things that were less than N10,000 before now are up to N50,000 now. They can reduce charges of the bowser that goes to put fuel inside the tank of the aircraft and these costs are transferred to the airlines and the airlines pass these costs to the passengers. If they reduce those small charges including navigational charges, it will help.”

Reminded that navigational charges have remained the same for many years with a plan by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to increase it shot down by Keyamo in July and the stability in the price of jet fuel, Tukur said, “I agreed that they have not increased so many charges in many years.”

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‘What I am trying to say is that the Foreign exchange is a very big factor here. You have to look at how much they got their equipment too and it costs so much in dollars. Everything in aviation is dollars. You also cannot blame the government. There are a lot of factors in all of this”.

“The main issue is about foreign exchange. The operation of aircraft has to do with dollars including spare parts and other costs. Aviation fuel prices are stable and there is no scarcity of jet fuel. Just yesterday, I sat down with one of the operators and made calculations. The calculation we made for a flight from Abuja to Kano and to break even, they have to charge nothing less than N250, 000 and from Abuja to Lagos should not be less than N300,000. But what do we do?

“I am talking to them, we are talking to them. They have to find a solution to reach a middle ground so that they will also be in business without driving people away from air travel”, he added.

Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konsult, Mr Chris Azu Aligbe said the truth of the matter is that the times are increasingly becoming harder for air travel passengers, adding that air travel passengers will suffer a lot.

“Unfortunately, the roads are not good. If the roads were good, it would have been a different thing. So, what is likely to happen is that fewer people will travel as we approach high season because the capacity is not there and they cannot jump the capacity even with the practice direction of Cape Town Convention (CTC).”

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The chairman of United Airlines, Prof Obiorah Okonkwo recently admitted that there is low traffic as many have shunned air travel and have taken to road travel despite the attendant risks.

He said, “There is low passenger traffic and airlines are finding it increasingly difficult to operate due to the high cost of aviation fuel and the high cost of aircraft servicing. The scarcity of forex and the depreciation of the naira are forcing airlines to just manage to survive, hoping that this period of depressed economy will also pass.”

He called on the President and the Minister to quickly come to the rescue of the airlines by providing waivers on charges and availability of Forex to help cushion the skyrocketing airfares.

The Managing Director of Flight and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, disclosed that not many Nigerians could afford to buy a ticket at N200,000 for one way and N400,000 for return, observing that the earnings of the Nigerian working class do not support such high fares and that even corporate organisations allow travel for their personnel when it is very essential and when there could not be a virtual interface.

Wole Shadare