By John Ikani
Nigeria airlines have increased fares for domestic flights from the Abuja to Lagos to N100,000 over the rising cost of aviation fuel and foreign exchange (FX) crisis.
Heritage Times (HT) gathered that Air Peace economy ticket for Sunday at 10:40 a.m. and 7:50 p.m. was priced at N100,000, while seats in Max Air flights scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. were priced at N125,000 and N130,000, respectively.
Also, prices for economy tickets in Arik ranged between N80,595 and N93,452, with Ibom Air’s only available Sunday flight selling its economy ticket for N78,000.
The increase in fares may not be unconnected to the multiple challenges in Nigeria’s air travel sector. The aviation industry is faced with a surge in the prices of jet A1 fuel which is significantly affecting operations.
The industry is also battling high cost of facility maintenance caused by constant inflation and the depreciation of the country’s currency.
Earlier in July, Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractors, temporarily suspended operations due to the scorching impact of skyrocketing price of aviation fuel.
The airline said operations in the past few months had been challenging, citing high cost of maintenance, skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation, and forex scarcity as some of the challenges faced by airline operators.
During an emergency meeting with Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, on Tuesday, the Airline Operators Association of Nigeria (AON) decried that aviation fuel has surged to about N1000 per litre from N180 per litre.
Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, president, AON, said the forex crisis was also a huge burden on the industry.
On his part, Sirika said the variables impacting the crises in the aviation sector were beyond the industry’s control, and as such, “there is no immediate solution”.
He, however, said the federal government is working to end the hike in aviation fuel prices through the revitalisation of refineries and coming on stream of the Dangote refinery.
