Single trip airfare rises to nearly N80,000 officially, but far higher in reality
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Single trip local airfare rose to N79,013.48 by September, up 8.70 per cent year-on-year (YoY) on N72,690 in September 2022, as disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its newly released Transport Fare Watch.
That is the official rate. In reality, however, the cost varies between N100,000 and at least N150,000 across airlines.
For example, the average airfare for a single trip from Abuja to Lagos is more than N100,000.
“In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey was N79,013.48 in September 2023, showing no significant differences in the fare paid in the previous month.
“On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 8.70 per cent from N72,690.54 in September 2022”, the report said, per Daily Post.
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Domestic airlines adjust for more flight seats to raise revenue
Domestic airlines have increased the number of seats on their planes to take in more passengers to boost revenue and offset rising costs forced on the industry by a plethora challenges, including aviation fuel and foreign exchange (forex) scarcity.
National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) President Susan Akporiaye explained the strategy is part of coping mechanisms to increase carrying capacity amid dwindling revenue.
She said lower seats, although cheaper, drive up the average seats per departure and translate into lower per-seat costs.
“Nothing has changed in the operating costs yet due to the fluctuating exchange rate, which is affecting our operating costs. The only thing that has changed is that airlines are beginning to release the lower seats now. Some of them have started releasing lower seats,” she stressed.
Adoption of cheap seats instead of expensive ones
“Earlier, the airlines stopped selling off all the cheap classes and were only selling the expensive ones.
“The airlines had cut off all the cheap seats and were selling only the expensive ones because of the trapped funds issue but now that the rate of exchange is high, most of them are releasing the cheap seats to get more revenue to remain afloat in the business,” Akporiaye added.
Aviation experts have expressed concern over the potential negative impact of the recent increase in airfares on both carriers and passengers, caused by the scarcity of forex and other challenges.
Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister Festus Keyamo has promised to tackle the challenges but stakeholders insist poor implementation of regulation policy is the main bane of the industry.
John Ojikutu, Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Security, asked for a thorough examination of the commercial addition sector by the relevant authorities so as to ascertain the financial health of all airlines.