We sell tickets in Naira for journeys originating from Nigeria-SAA

South African Airways (SAA) said contrary to some reports (Not Aviation Metric) that the carrier has begun to sell tickets in dollars, the carrier clarified that tickets are still sold in Naira for journeys originating from Nigeria to South Africa.

A top official of the airline who spoke to Aviation Metric under a condition of anonymity said SAA is not selling tickets in dollars in Nigeria, adding that tickets are still been sold in Naira in the country in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy that tickets are sold in the country’s currency.

The source explained that what SAA did was to ensure that tickets issued outside Nigeria would be paid for in dollars.

Likewise, tickets sold outside and ticketed outside the country would be issued in dollars.

The carrier in a statement to its trade partners on Tuesday stated, “Please be informed that effective August 10, 2022, you can ONLY issue SITI (i.e. LOS-JNB-LOS) tickets in Naira. All other tickets, that is, SOTI, SOTO have to be issued in USD”.

It also stated that from Wednesday, August 10, 2022, passengers can only travel on Sold inside Ticketed inside (SITI), that is trips emanating from Lagos-Johannesburg-Lagos tickets in Naira.

Aviation Metric had this week exclusively reported that more airlines are taking drastic actions to stem further piling up of their money in the country by devising means to ensure that air tickets are sold and paid for in dollars for ease of repatriation following the Forex crunch that had hit the country making it extremely difficult for them to get their funds.

Just last week, Emirates took the painful decision to forestall the accumulation of debts owed them by the Nigerian Government, other airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, and others are said to be monitoring the situation as efforts by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the clearing house for global airlines to help repatriate the funds are said to have yielded no fruits.

The airline in a statement late Friday night said it would reduce its flight operations to Nigeria over the inability to repatriate about $85 million in revenue.

The withholding of foreign airlines’ over $450 million funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is seriously affecting  carriers such as British Airways, United Airlines, Delta, Emirates, Qatar, Air France-KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and Lufthansa among others.

Wole Shadare