Air Peace enters lucrative Lagos-London route March 30 to compete on price

• Lagos-London route one of most lucrative

• To introduce special student fares

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

The long-awaited resumption of direct flight between Nigeria and the United Kingdom by a Nigerian flagged airline will become real on March 30 when Air Peace, West Africa’s largest airline by fleet size, enters the lucrative Lagos-London route for the first time with a promise that passengers will find comforting in the face of the country’s cost of living crisis.

The airline entrance  into one of the most lucrative routes in international air travels in Nigeria appeared primed to see the airline compete on price as it is promising travellers on the route reasonable airfares against the current astronomical fares charged by legacy airlines.

With the resumption of direct flights by a Nigerian airline on the route, Air Peace is throwing in a special student fare that would enable students to travel more affordably for their studies in the land of King Charles, the airline said. Medview and Arik are the last indigenous airlines that flew the route.

At a recent forum with travel agents for the London launch in Lagos, Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace, who made the disclosure, called on travel agents to manage the special student fares so that it is not abused by passengers, noting that these fares will make it easy and affordable for students to travel during holidays and school resumption period.

“Several parents have been disconnected from their children. Many students have not been home for over two years because their parents cannot afford return fares to London. Parents will no longer suffer to raise money for fares for their children because the student fares will be affordable for all parents,” he assured.

“My children [are] all schooling abroad and we insist that they return to Nigeria during their school breaks no matter how short. This is to enable us [to] remain connected to our children and ensure they stick to our values and culture. I know this is also the desire of several other parents but this desire has been cut short because of high fares.

“This narrative will change as soon as Air Peace resumes flights to London,” the chairman assured.

According to him, the Air Peace London route was born out of his love for Nigeria and to put an end to high fares from Nigeria to London and back.

“I am not interested in politics. This is not about going to London. It is about giving Nigerians the best option and yielding to the yearnings of Nigerians. I set up Air Peace to create jobs for Nigerians,” he said.

He also promised to give commissions on tickets sold for unified travel agents.

However, Onyema did not reveal how much fares Air Peace will charge on the London route, but assured that the fares will be cheaper than what legacy airlines are charging.

Checks show that currently, the cheapest economy class return ticket from Nigeria to London cost about N1.6 million naira.

Air fares in the last two years have risen by over 400 percent as a result of accumulating trapped funds of foreign airlines in Nigeria caused by the country’s foreign exchange crisis.

The CBN has directed banks to remove the cap on the investors and exporters’ (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market to allow for the free float of naira exchange rate.

Last year, Nigeria officially floated its local currency, the naira, after years of sticking with a hard peg that spooked investors and drained dollars from the economy.

Recall that for two years now, airlines blocked low ticket inventories, leaving high inventories to be sold in naira only while the low ticket inventories on most airlines’ websites can only be bought with dollar cards. This was in a bid to cushion the effect of their trapped funds in Nigeria.

Bankole Bernard, former president of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), who also spoke at the event said Air Peace London flight is a welcome idea, especially as Nigeria would now have its own carrier creating balance of trade which is not tilted to one side.

“There will be a bit of balance. Air Peace has been given a daily slot to Gatwick which amounts to seven frequencies, compared to 21 frequencies that the legacy airlines have; 14 in Lagos and seven in Abuja. To an extent, we have something that will balance it up.

“Air Peace is not going to be faced with foreign exchange challenges, because the fares will be in naira. It is a welcome idea for travel agents and Nigeria as a whole. We appeal to Air Peace to try its best to sustain the London route. We are willing to give them all the support to ensure this is successful. With Air Peace, travel agents envisage a 50 percent fare reduction,” Bernard said.

Oluwatoyin Olajide, chief operating officer, Air Peace, in her speech at the event, said the London route means a lot to Air Peace for several reasons and a major one is that it marks its historic entry into the European continent.

Olajide said the service will be operated with the airline’s Boeing 777 aircraft and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, one of the most modern and efficient aircraft in the skies.

She also said the airline will be launching with special promo fares and attractive plans for agents.

“Operating daily, this service will also offer several other benefits which give Air Peace an edge over the competition. It’s a direct flight without stop-overs and offers unbeatable fares. The specifics of these offers and other Unique Selling Points will be presented as this engagement progresses.

“We want you to know that Air Peace’s operational expansion and milestones are driven by our ambition to continually connect cities and ease the burden of air travel while fostering economic prosperity across nations,” she added.