With aviation fuel at its all-time high and foreign exchange unavailable to meet obligations on schedule, local air travellers should brace up for tougher days ahead.
Operators have warned that the dire situation, now feasting on airlines’ operations, would worsen flight delays and cancellations, further reduce frequencies and routes, and push airfares higher as more carriers battle to stay afloat.
Apparently in agreement with the airlines, aviation stakeholders have urged the operators to review the ticket subsidy practices and pass the actual costs to consumers, instead of “cutting corners” on high operating costs – a no-no in standard operating practices.
Already, the warning signs are all over the sector. This week, the oldest operating carriers in the country, Aero Contractors, suspended operations over its depleted fleet capacity to operate reliable scheduled operation. The airline has about eight out of its nine airplanes on the waiting list for routine maintenance, but lacks foreign exchange to purchase spares and meet obligations.
Less than 24 hours after Aero closed shop, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended Dana Air operations with immediate effect, citing inability to run safe operations and meet financial obligations.
With 10 local airlines suddenly down to eight, the effects are telling on local travels. On one hand are the stranded travellers on less viable routes. On the other are high frequency routes that are now affected by high fares.
As of yesterday, The Guardian learnt that most seats on the busy Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Kaduna routes are fully booked for the weekend and early next week. Where available, the prices range between N75,000 to N110,000 for one-way economy seats. Round-trip tickets range between N130,000 to N180,000, depending on route, airline and time of purchase.
A frequent traveller, Akeem Oloyede, lamented the galloping rise in airfares. Oloyede said: “It gets frustrating to receive the same fares we used to pay for international trips as the new fare for local and less than an hour travel. It is unaffordable.
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