Yuletide: Anger, frustration over 100% hike in fares
- Airlines fully booked until January
- One-way from Lagos to Owerri, Enugu, PH cost N60, 000
Less than 24hours to the Christmas celebration, travellers from Lagos to different parts of the country are gnashing their teeth over the high cost of transport fares. From the airports to different motor parks in Lagos and other states travellers have been caught in the frenzy of last minutes interstate journeys.
Some travellers bitterly complained of the transport hike, describing it as “unreasonable.” From the Lagos airport, travellers are grappling with high air fares to destinations like Owerri, Enugu, Asaba, Port-Harcourt and other destinations in South South of Nigeria.
Woleshadarenews gathered that as early as October, available seats to the East and South- South of Nigeria had already being booked by passengers in and outside Nigeria for the Yuletide, just as air traffic has shifted to the region. Many of the airlines like Air Peace, Dana, Aero Contractors are putting virtually all their airplanes on the route to meet surging demands, which is capable of overstretching capacity.
As a result, the airlines are smiling to the bank while touting has assumed a different dimension at most of the airports because of high demand for air travel. The high demand has created scarcity but those insisting they would travel by air pay as high as N55, 000 and N60, 000 for one way trip.
This is expected to remain that way until second week in January when people who travelled are expected to return to their various destinations for resumption of work. Spokesman for one of the airlines who craved anonymity said, “Our flights are fully booked for the season but we are going to have more flights. We are doing everything to ensure that our passengers are not stranded this yuletide,” “In 2017, the fares on domestic routes ranged from N21, 000 to N41,000 for the economy class.
But in 2018 and currently it ranges from N50, 000 to N60, 000 for economy class. It is not that we increased fares, it is purely because of demand and the class of economic tickets that they get at the going fares. “Although as more passengers demand tickets, the air fare increases but we put a ceiling to the fares; it starts from the minimum but as more people continue to buy ticket, the system continues to increase the fare.
For example, the minimum fare could go for only 40 people who first bought tickets; then the system would increase the fare for the next people that would buy tickets”. Spokesman for Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, stated that the prices for tickets would increase as Christmas gets closer, adding that demand always drive higher or lower air fares; a situation he said applies to international flights all over the world.
“Traffic is massive now, particularly flights to Owerri, Abuja and Port Harcourt. What we do is to create more flights to meet the demand of our customers. But the fare may be higher, but we will create more flights to the destinations where is higher demand and reduce flights on the routes where the demand is low,” he said.
Our correspondent, who was at Ejigbo Motor Park, Lagos, learnt that the fare to Onitsha , Owerri, Aba, Umuahia , which previously cost N4,000, N5,000 and N5,500, now attracts N6,000 , N7,500 and N12, 500 respectively.
As of Saturday, Sienna buses from Jibowu to Umuahia, Abia State was N13,000 as against N5,000, while bus is now N10,500 as against N4,500. Some of the drivers attributed the hike in fare to the season, stressing that there were too many passengers.
A passenger, Chinedu, opined that railway transportation was the solution to Nigerian transportation problem. Another traveller, Mr Titus, described the situation as pathetic and called on government to quickly start the Lagos to Calabar rail line. Commuters in Edo State are also groaning over what they described as hike in transport fares by more than 100 per cent to many destinations from Benin.
A commuter, Mrs Okechi Mba, described the increase as a, “desperate means by commercial drivers to exploit passengers, many of who he noted must travel home, no matter the transport cost during festive periods. She said: “It is just act of wickedness against their fellow human beings. How do you explain this huge increase? I am still confused as to the cost of travelling from here down to Aba; myself and three kids.
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