Domestic airline operators have increased air fares by over 50 per cent as a result of what they described as “tough operational environment and rising costs.”
Our correspondent gathered that the airlines effected the increase between Thursday and Saturday.
For instance, a one-way ticket for a 45-minute flight at the General Aviation Terminal and the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, Lagos, is now selling for N36,000 on the average, contrary to the N24,000 it sold for early last Wednesday.
As a result of passenger upsurge, investigation by our correspondent revealed that the airlines moved up their ticket prices from an average of N24,000 on Thursday morning to N29,000 at the close of work on the same day.
On Friday, the ticket price moved up to N33,000, especially on “busy routes” like Lagos-Abuja and Lagos-Port Harcourt.
The new fares are exclusive of the N2,500 and N1,000 Passenger Service Charge being paid by each traveller as terminal fee to the managers of the MMA2 and GAT respectively.
However, the airlines are blaming the increase in ticket prices on the scarcity and hike in the pump price of aviation fuel or Jet-A1; flooding of airport runways as a result of recent heavy rainfall that resulted in some aircraft suffering mishaps; and increased passenger traffic due to the summer holidays.
“Until the issue of the scarcity of Jet-A1 is resolved by the minister of aviation as she had promised, air fares may continue going up,” an Aero Contractors’ ticketing and reservation officer at the MMA2, said.
The officer, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, noted that the only way the airline operators could recoup their investments was by increasing fares, adding that the increase in the volume of passengers also contributed to the hike in price.
Speaking on the development, the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, said the airlines were facing tough operational challenges caused by the scarcity of Jet-A1 and the recent flooding, which affected runways in most airports across the country.
He noted that the price of aviation fuel as at Wednesday stood at N190 per litre in Lagos and was higher in other parts of the country.
Demuren explained that a Boeing 737 aircraft, mostly used by commercial carriers, consumed 4,219 litres of Jet-A1 for a one hour flight, meaning that at the rate of N190 per litre, any airline using the aircraft would spend N801,610 for such a trip.
He said, “We are aware that air fares are moving up by the day and that it has got to about N33,000, but this is because aviation fuel, which accounts for 25 per cent to 40 per cent of airlines’ operating cost has gone up astronomically.
“As the minister has assured, something has to be done since aviation supports the commerce of this country, with more than 300 daily flights recorded for domestic operations, more than 75 daily flights for international operations and more than 400 helicopter sorties supporting onshore and offshore oil operations.”
The Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, had last week during her maiden tour of facilities at the Lagos airport, set up a committee to unravel the reasons why aviation fuel had remained exorbitant despite the fact that Nigeria was an oil producing nation.
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Rising costs: Local airlines raise fares by 50%
Rising costs: Local airlines raise fares by 50%
NigerianEye
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Monday, July 18, 2011
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