Last year, Nigeria’s aviation sector grappled with a lot of challenges ranging from hikes in JetA fuel and airfare; regulatory, institutional and structural challenges; challenges of poor infrastructure; poor access to financial incentives; inability to repatriate funds; as well as underfunding of the industry.
Due to the challenges, some airlines (domestic and international) were forced to limit their operations in the country. In this report, PREMIUM TIMES highlights some of the key issues and policies that impacted the aviation sector last year.
1. Spike in prices of air tickets
In February, the prices of domestic airline tickets skyrocketed by over 100 per cent as major airlines pegged their minimum base fare at N50,000 and above.
A few years ago, the economy class fares were placed between N23,300 and N48,000, even though rates often increased to as much as N70,000 during the festive season. But in February last year, many months away from festive periods, the prices…