Air passengers have continued to groan over the drastic rise in ticket prices on the domestic routes with a one-way flight costing as much as N125,000, findings by Daily Trust have shown.
The development has seen many air travellers either cancelling their trips or using alternative means as the prices of tickets have gone up to the ceiling.
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Airlines have blamed the development on the skyrocketing Jet A1 price coupled with the rising operational cost.
The Jet fuel which was less than N200 per litre last year is now over N800 and there are fears the price may reach N1000 amidst the raging Russia-Ukraine war which has disrupted supply chain in the oil industry.
This was worsened by the suspension of flights by Aero Contractors and the suspension of Dana Air by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Some stakeholders have however advised airlines to sell tickets to reflect the current price of Jet A1.
Sources told our correspondent that this is what the airlines have done in order to remain afloat.
Checks by Daily Trust indicated that many airlines have reviewed their prices with the lowest ticket selling for N80,000 as against N50,000 which the airlines introduced recently.
A passenger who spoke with our correspondent said he wanted to come to Lagos from Abuja for a programme on Thursday last week and the only available flight he got was N125,000 and he had to call off the trip.
“I found that quite exorbitant which means I would be spending over N200,000 for a return trip. Where will I get that? It is quite absurd and unsustainable especially for businesses,” the passenger said.
Checks on Ibom Air yesterday showed that Lagos-Abuja flight for Wednesday indicated that most seats have been fully booked but the ticket costs N78,000.
Air Peace’s Lagos-Kano flight is now N80,000 and findings by our correspondent indicated that the Abuja-Kano flight costs N130,000 on Max Air.
It costs N78,000 if a passenger is booking 48 hours to the flight.
Also, Azman Air’s Lagos-Kaduna flight for Wednesday is N100,000 though this has been like this for the past few weeks. Also, its Lagos-Kano flight is between N95,000 and N105,000 depending on the travel date.
Airlines dump low cost flights
Daily Trust also learnt that airlines like Green Africa with the tag of low-cost carriers have virtually dumped low cost fares in their inventory selling Lagos-Abuja flights for almost N80,000.
Before, Lagos-Abuja was sold at N27, 000 and N35,000 at a time other operators pegged their cheapest fare at N50,000.
Its Abuja-Ilorin flight also costs N54000 to N70,000 as against N25,000.
Speaking with our correspondent, aviation analyst and CEO of TopBrass Airline, Capt. Roland Iyayi, said while the current fare hike is unsustainable, airlines have no option than to review prices to recover costs.
He said the NCAA should, as part of the solution to current challenges facing the airlines, review the five percent ticket sale charge (TSC).
He added, “The immediate solution again is for the government to import and subsidise Jet A1 before we start getting the refineries to work.”
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