Sade Williams/Business a.m.
International carriers flying into Nigeria have released all categories of low inventory tickets in apparent adherence to a directive by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that they should release low fare tickets for purchase in Nigeria.
Carriers such as Lufthansa German Airlines, KLM, Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways, Royal Air Maroc, RwandAir, and Turkish Airlines have all released all categories of low inventory tickets.
As at the time of filing this report, this newspaper learnt that only Air France was yet to comply with the NCAA directive.
Chris Najomo, director general, NCAA, in a move to halt the spiralling cost of air tickets in the country and make travelling affordable for Nigerians had, set up a 10-man committee to look into the high cost of tickets in the country.
The setting up of the committee came on the heels of a two-day high-level meeting held between NCAA and foreign airlines in Nigeria on the urgent need to unblock all low inventory tickets which were hitherto blocked for over 18 months.
The NCAA, following the outcry by Nigerians over the astronomical increase in air tickets, convened the two-day meeting with the foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.
The 10-man committee chaired by Horatius Egua, director of special duties, NCAA, is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the foreign airlines fully complied with the directives of the government to unblock all low inventory tickets as well as recommend appropriate pricing of tickets in Nigeria compared to similar markets in the West African sub-region.
The meeting which held at the headquarters of the NCAA, in Abuja, had in attendance representatives from the NCAA, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) while the International Air Transport Association (IATA) made presentation on behalf of foreign airlines.
Rising from the meeting the Authority expressed strong reservations over the high cost of fares and discriminatory practices against Nigerians by the foreign airlines and called for immediate reversal of the trend.
One of the key resolutions at the end of the meeting between the Authority, FCCPC, NANTA and the foreign airlines was for the reduction in the cost of tickets and for the airlines to unconditionally unblock all lower inventory tickets to the Nigerian market.
In the last several months, Nigerians have been made to pay higher fares on international flights unjustly as all the foreign airlines increased their flight tickets astronomically citing the high exchange rate as well as other sundry issues and also deliberately blocked low inventory tickets making travel unbearable for Nigerians.
Egua who represented Najomo at the meeting held between February 12 and 13, 2024, in Abuja, said. “This is very discriminatory in nature. We cannot continue to pay higher fares compared to other countries in the sub-region that have similar distances, using the same operating aircraft. We have the market and in some cases we have more liberal taxes? This is unacceptable and we totally reject this.
“For instance, a distance of six hours from Ghana to London may sometimes cost about $800 while a similar distance with similar operating aircraft cost over $2000 in Nigeria. This is discriminatory and an unfair practice and we reject this in totality,” he further stated.
