Air Peace’s maiden flight to London, which will commence on March 30, 2024, is fully booked by Nigerians who have sought cheaper tickets to London.
Nigeria’s largest carrier, pegged its economy class ticket at N1.2million, thereby slashing fares on the route.
According to the airline, a return economy class ticket goes for N1.2 million naira, and a return Business Class Ticket sells for N4 million. Air Peace also made provisions for Nigerians studying in the UK to access a special 15 percent rebate on the already reduced economy fares.
On the other hand, the average cost of a return economy class ticket on a foreign airline is about N3 million, while Business Class goes for about N8 million or more.
Foreign airlines have failed to reduce fares despite the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s call for lower ticket inventories to be released.
Airfares in the last two years have risen by over 400 percent as foreign airlines in Nigeria saw their funds trapped in the country accumulate over a volatile foreign exchange rate.
The CBN had directed banks to remove the cap on the investors’ and exporters’ (I&E) window of the forex market to allow a free float of the naira exchange rate.
Last year, Nigeria officially floated its naira currency after years of sticking with a hard peg that spooked investors and drained dollars from the economy.
For two years now, airlines blocked low ticket inventories, leaving only high inventories to be sold in naira while the low ticket inventories on most airlines’ websites can only be bought with dollar cards only. This was to cushion the effect of their trapped funds in Nigeria.
However, the NCAA, recently directed airlines to release low ticket inventories. But BusinessDay’s findings show that many airlines showed cheaper ticket classes on their websites but these ticket classes were not accessible to Nigerians.
High fares charged by foreign carriers have driven several Nigerians to book Air Peace, as the airline’s maiden flight to London as well as return flights are fully booked.
“I am particularly excited that Air Peace is now flying to London because I am a frequent flier on the Lagos-London route. I have two businesses I run in London and some in Nigeria. So I often fly to London from Lagos. Fares have been so high in the past two years and this has since eaten into my business profits. Air Peace is coming at the right time and I am really happy because it will change the narrative of air travel on the Lagos-London route,” Temitayo Lawanson told BusinessDay.
Susan Akporiaye, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) told BusinessDay that Air Peace’s maiden flight to London was filled up within a few days after the airline announced ticket prices, which shows how much Nigerians have waited for cheap tickets.
Akporiaye said after the NCAA warning foreign airlines managed to release few low inventories, which are hardly accessible.
“Legacy carriers say they have released low inventories yet cheap tickets are still not available. The legacy airlines say the low inventory tickets have all been fully booked but I know this may not be true.
“They released the tickets to avoid NCAA sanctions. Flights are still very expensive. Some of the low inventory tickets won’t be available till April or even May. That is why Nigerians are quite excited about Air Peace and travel agents are willing to support Air Peace,” she said.
A one way economy class ticket from Lagos to London on British Airways cost N4.5million for Premium Economy and N11 million for Business Class.
On Lufthansa, a one way economy class ticket from Lagos to London cost N1.4million for Economy Basic and N1.6million for Economy Basic plus, both were not accessible at the time of sending this report. Accessible tickets on Lufthansa cost N1.7 million for Economy Flex and N3 million.
On Virgin Atlantic, the same destination cost N1.3m for economy classic which is no longer available. Accessible tickets on Virgin Atlantic cost between N2 million to N5.6million. An Upper Class ticket on Virgin Atlantic cost N12.3million.
Kingsley Nwokeoma, President, Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, (AFARN) told BusinessDay that while foreign airlines agreed to release low ticket inventories, this may take time as it requires olabbing and some processes.
“Airlines are different with different rules and procedures of doing things. Some of these things take time and procedures. These things go through processes before they are implemented.
“However the reason why tickets are high is because of trapped airline funds. Before trapped funds, airlines had low inventory tickets. I appeal to the government to pay the airlines. Nigeria owes these airlines a lot of money compared to what other countries owe them,” Nwokeoma said.
Peoplesmind
