Air travel has become quite a luxury in Nigeria as airfares have spiked over one hundred percent in the last two weeks for domestic flights across the country.
Airline operators have attributed the increase to the high rate of foreign exchange and the high travel demands associated with holidays
The holiday season is around the corner, but travelers thinking of going by air to their various destinations will have to dig deeper into their pockets. This is due to an massive rise in air tickets. Strangely, this has been the trend from late November.
Domestic Ticket on Air Peace from Lagos to Abuja cost between N60,000 and N72,000 Naira on Economy while it goes for N95,000 and above for business class tickets.
On Arik Air, Domestic Ticket for Lagos to Yola costs about N81,000 for Economy seats.
The CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama blames the hike on Nigeria’s Forex Crisis and High Cost of running Airlines challenge.
The reality is that most Airlines have practically been struggling with fleets idling on the ground for months due to the Covid-19 lockdown, resulting in huge losses and layoffs. A government promise of 4-billion naira support is seen as a drop in the bucket when compared to the needs of a Multi-billion Dollar Industry
With high volume of traffic anticipated during the holidays, perhaps it’s a time for the airlines to cash in, in order to stay in afloat.
However, a ticketing agent told StringNews that a system of hoarding where bookings are made and later sold to real travelers at a higher rate is also a contributing factor.
With Nigeria experiencing its worst economic recession in 30 years, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
