By Dickson Omobola
Air travellers this Yuletide may have to spend more than their budget following the hike in airfares across many routes. But for Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, airlines should connect families, and not suppress them with prices.
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Also, Chairman of West Link Airlines, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, questioned the rationale behind the price surge, saying it was unjustifiable.
The airlines airfares hike has led to frustration and disappointment among travellers, who found the development disappointing, leading to public outrage.
The situation has elicited criticism from stakeholders in the air transport sector, even as the Senate condemned the surge in ticket prices.
Captain Sanusi told Vanguard: “The fare increase during Yuletide is not normal market behaviour. It reflects structure failures in the system. It is not good airline management.
“Yes, there is demand, but it does not justify that level of increase.
“I think we should also understand why the airlines are doing this, and it is the problem of insufficient capacity in the Nigerian aviation market.
“Many airlines are operating with reduced fleets due to aircraft unavailability. Some of them are maintenance challenges.
“When capacity is weak, prices become irrational. That’s the main issue.
“However, sharp seasonal hikes are short term cash grabs, and not sustainable business strategies. Airlines should connect families, not suppress them by prices.
Way forward
“It is bringing in more aircraft. Maintaining more airplanes locally. There is a need to encourage a predictive pricing framework during peak periods.
“Consumer protection should also come in and see that there is no price fixing. Also, there should be stronger dialogue between airlines, the regulators and the consumer groups.”
Airfares in August
A Vanguard report in August showed that Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines had raised ticket prices to the South-East and South-South regions by 131 per cent ahead of the festive season.
Vanguard found that Air Peace increased its one-way economy ticket from Lagos to Asaba in Delta State from N147,000 to N337,500.
Fares from Lagos to Enugu and Benin in Edo State also rose simultaneously from N145,000 to N335,500, while Abuja to Benin increased from N145,000 to N335,500.
For United Nigeria Airlines, checks revealed that one-way economy tickets from Lagos to Enugu would rise from N125,500 to N335,500 starting December 11. The same tickets from Lagos to Owerri in Imo State and Asaba in Delta State also increased from N125,500 to N335,500.
As of the time of filing this report, Vanguard checks showed that the cheapest one-way ticket on those routes on Air Peace remained N335,500, with most dates already fully booked.
On United Nigeria Airlines, the lowest fare available was N299,998 for the Lagos-Enugu route.
Senate steps in
This development comes a day after the Senate resolved to investigate the price surge and summoned Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo; heads of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN; Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, among others, for questioning.
During a debate on the matter at plenary on Tuesday, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, noted that some of the airlines had raised their fares to as high as N500,000 and N650,000 for just one-way tickets.
Cost of fuel, landing, parking didn’t increase – West Link Airlines Chairman
Speaking to Vanguard on the issue, Chairman of West Link Airlines, Captain Mshelia, questioned the rationale behind the price surge, saying it was unjustifiable.
He said: “The price of fuel didn’t increase, FAAN didn’t increase their landing and parking fees, navigation charges didn’t go up. Raising the fare is simply taking advantage of a situation.
“It is not only Nigerian airlines that raise prices, but would I do it? No, I wouldn’t. There is fuller flight capacity during this period. Why raise fares?
“It is a mentality thing and people just take advantage of the situation. We have not created an enabling environment for competition to thrive normally.
“There is nothing the airlines are doing that is strange. What do fuel marketers do when there is fuel shortage? They increase the price. It is an institutional problem.
One-way traffic
“If anyone operating a scheduled operation justifies it by saying there is one-way traffic during Yuletide, then that operator is a liar. They should think out of the box, they shouldn’t punish passengers.
“One-way traffic isn’t true and makes no sense. They have an attitudinal problem.
“Some of the operators in this country wish they were the only ones. If it was possible, they would choose who to even sell tickets to.”
The post No reason for airfares hike – Aero Contractors, West Link appeared first on Vanguard News.
