Findings have shown that domestic airfares have increased by 150 percent in the past 12 months.
As of May and June 2023, a flight from Lagos to Abuja was about N51,000, but this price is now about N143,000, representing over 180 percent increase in price within the space of 11 months.
Furthermore, a check of the airlines’ prices showed that as of Wednesday, Ibom Air was charging N190,800 for a Lagos to Port-Harcourt trip, while Air Peace charged N171,600 on the same route. Ibom Air also quoted N238,000 for a one-way flight from Lagos to Abuja on a Premium Economy seat.
In the same vein, Arik Air charged N237,835 and N190,217 for Monday and Tuesday flights to Port Harcourt from Lagos, respectively, while it was N171,761 for Value Jet.
It is thus becoming increasingly difficult for passengers to book flights, as checks on the websites of various airlines showed that they were mostly fully booked, an experience common on the Lagos-Abuja route.
Sources among the Airline Operators of Nigeria, noted that the increase in airfares was due to the limited aircraft available in the country.
They stated that many aircraft belonging to domestic carriers were either grounded for one reason or the other, or outside the country for maintenance.
“Many of our aircraft have either been grounded by the authority in Nigeria or are due for servicing. Also, the ones due for servicing have either been trapped in the country where they are flown to for servicing, or kept here in Nigeria because of the lack of foreign exchange.
“Let the CBN make dollars available, and airfares will be affordable,” the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of a domestic airline, who preferred anonymity, said, “Yes, I understand that complaint about aircraft, but that is not the case for us. We have aircraft but you should expect the prices to surge because we all saw what is going on in our markets.
“Foreign exchange is very high and we deal in foreign exchange too. So when the succour comes into our market, it will also trickle down to passengers.”
