Cost of flight tickets has sky rocketed as Nigerian airlines have increased domestic flight fares to N100,000.00 for an hour flight. Flights from Lagos to Abuja that was going for N50,000 has now doubled. Checks on airlines showed that AirPeace economy ticket for Sunday was priced at N100,000 just as seats on Max Air flights were going for N125,000 and N130,000, respectively. Seats on an Air Peace flight scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on Sunday were still selling for N85,000, with flights at 2:55 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. sold out. At the time, Max Air’s flights scheduled for 5:20 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. were still selling for N84,000 and N75,000, 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 airfare is the result of multiple challenges confronting the aviation industry, including an increase in the price of jet A1 and the high cost of facility maintenance caused by constant inflation and the depreciation of the country’s currency. 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.
Also, in a bid to further reduce disruptions in the aviation industry, the House of Representatives ruled in May that six million litres of aviation fuel be sold to airline operators at the rate of N480 per litre for the next three months. However, reports have predicted that airlines would shut down operations in the country over the incessant hike in aviation fuel, along with other environmental challenges.
