Turkish Airlines demands dollars, Emirates shuts flights to and from Nigeria
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Turkish Airlines has begun selling tickets in United States dollars to travellers out of Nigeria, making good the alert issued in April by APG Interline E-Ticketing (IEG) that foreign airlines would soon stop accepting naira for tickets.
The news coincides with announcement by Emirates Airlines that it would suspend from 1 September flights to and from Nigeria because of its trapped $85 million ticket sales revenue.
More foreign airlines are mulling pulling out of the country over their combined $600 million revenue hijacked by a government that uses propaganda, distortion, and falsehood to dismiss genuine concerns; local and foreign.
Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika on Thursday issued a statement through his Public Affairs Assistant James Odaodu to deny responsibility for the trapped funds.
“Who withheld the money? That they are unable to repatriate their funds doesn’t amount to withholding by government.
“As much as the Minister of Aviation has tried to assist them with relevant bodies to facilitate their access to forex, it should be noted that the issue does not fall among the responsibilities of the Ministry of Aviation,” the statement said.
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Nigerians to buy tickets in dollars to fly foreign airlines
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Reaction from Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines on the same Thursday sent to its partners a message that reads:
“Dear Business Partner, kindly be informed that as of today:
“ONLY C AND Y FARE CLASSES WILL BE AVAILABLE ON GDSs FOR SALE IN NIGERIA. UNUSED TICKETS WILL BE UPGRADED TO Y OR C CLASS FOR VOLUNTARY REISSUE CASES, FARE AND TAX DIFFERENCE SHALL BE COLLECTED FOR INBOUND OR OUTBOUND TRAVEL.
“MULTI CITY ROUTES WILL NOT BE COMBINED WITH FARES. ALL FARE CLASSES WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON TURKISH AIRLINES OFFICIAL WEBSITE AND MOBILE APP.
“Please kindly inform your subagents, members of staff and your clients accordingly.”
In plain language, Turkish Airlines is saying passengers from Nigeria can longer buy tickets in naira; only dollars will be accepted, per reporting by Nairametrics.
Backdrop
Turkish Airlines is among carriers on the APG IET platform that fly to Nigeria, a country in foreign exchange (forex) crisis which has also affected the naira.
Sourcing forex from banks has become near impossible. The only alternative for most individuals and corporates is the parallel or black market where the exchange rate is higher.
Naira has fallen further against the dollar as it constantly depreciates in value. It declined by N29 in the second quarter ended June (H1 2022).
But it traded at N679.5/$1 in the early hours of Thursday at the peer-to-peer FX market; a 0.13 per cent appreciation against the dollar compared with N680.4/$1 in the trading session on Wednesday.
