here are indications that airlines have recorded a drop in passengers following the recent increment in the price of flight tickets, with a one-way economy selling for N50, 000 and above.
Although the recovery in air travel is gathering steam as the Federal Government lifted travel restrictions, local airline operators may not find it easy in the passengers market this season due to low patronage.
A source at the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammad Airport (MMA) told THEWILL that passengers traffic is very low because most travellers are not turning up to book or to travel as usual.
The ticketing officer said passengers’ figure had dropped for sometime, saying that, if it were in those days, most airlines’ seats should have been fully booked ahead of Easter celebrations. He said that so far, and even when Easter is just a week away, the airlines are still recording low patronage.
This is in addition to the upcoming 2022 Eid al-Fitr to be cebrated and observed from 2nd May till 3rd May, 2022.
An official of one of the domestic airlines who spoke on the low patronage said, “although Easter is here but passengers coming to the airport have somehow dropped. I cannot really say the actual cause but it looks as if people are probably now traveling by road. Or could it be because of the insecurity. I cannot really say. However, we hope it will improve in the coming days”.
According to the airline worker, those travelling for Easter will likely pay more because of cost of fuel, forex and other cost of operations which has increased in recent times.
“Even now ticket fares have started going up. If you are lucky, you can get one way ticket for N50, 000. Sometimes, it is N60, 000 and even N80, 000 in some cases. I am very sure, it will be more than that during the Easter period”, he said.
Already, airlines have started to devise means of surviving, particularly during the Easter period. For instance, Arik Air has introduced a sales promotion that will enable its frequent flyer program, Affinity Wings, members to purchase miles for traveling across the airline’s domestic network.
Similarly Aero Contractors had come up with his own promo “Four For Five” to encourage families to travel this Easter season.
Less than one month to Easter, Green Africa had also introduced a special ‘One Month of Easter’ offer with starting fare of N25,500 across selected routes.
Meanwhile, airline operators have attributed the high cost of air tickets to increasing cost of Jet A1 otherwise known as aviation fuel.
Currently, cost of aviation fuel has hit an all-time high of N500. And considering that, the cost of fuel accounts for about 40 percent of the operational cost of most airlines, the colossal rise in the price of the product by over 300 percent within one year has equally increased the operational cost astronomically.
Consequently, some of the airlines have been left with no option than to start increasing fares gradually, from N50,000 to N70,000 and above.
Confirming that high cost of fuel price determines fare cost, aviation expert, Mr Hurbert Odika blamed the current scarcity of Jet A1 to the inability of the government to put the country’s refineries in order.
Odika, a former Director of Operations, Nigerian Aviation Handing Company NACHO who traced the hike in air fares to the airlines running cost explained, that, the industry will never had witnessed the current economic predicament caused by shortage of aviation fuel in the industry assuming the refineries were working.
“We will refine here at cheaper labour cost, no ocean freight to bring back the finished product, no charges in foreign currency for refining the PMS or AGO to return them back to the country. Nigeria at the moment is cheating itself”
He remarked that he was very optimistic that President Buhari who had worked as a Minister of Petroleum in 1979 and chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) , would have taken it as top priority that refineries will be up and running.
On the fare hike, Odika said it was expected like every other business but remarked that the hike in Jet A1 sounded unrealistic to him from N200 to N625 per litre.
He stated that, if there was justification to the increase in fare, the airlines were at will to do so but not to make it a blanket increase across the nation
“You don’t charge the same fare for a flight to Benin that is 35 minutes as some body going to Yola or Kano, that is over one hour. That is not realistic”.
In the same vein, energy expert, Monica Maduekwe called on the Federal Government to put measures in place to insulate her citizens from external shocks from the international oil market, bearing in mind that Nigeria’s performance on energy security is low despite being energy rich.
Maduekwe, who is the co-founder of PUTTRU, a digital platform, which connects energy companies in Africa to global financiers, said this is necessary because the economic losses from high oil prices greatly outweighs the gains the country makes in terms of revenues.
According to her, “without being able to insulate her economy from the volatility of international energy prices, oil prices will continue to be both positive and negative for Nigeria. And, due to the high inflation issues which increased fuel prices lead to in Nigeria, we cannot call this a good thing for the average Nigerian. The only good here is that this spike in oil prices as a result of this crisis is seen as short term, especially as there are clear ways of remedying this issue at the global level.
She recalled that as at 10th of March, OPEC reported an oil price of $117.23, falling from $128.46 on 8th of March 2022. Moreover, at the 26th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, held on 2nd of March 2022, the body reiterated the decision to limit production, until 30th of April 2022, when this position will be up for revision.
While pump price increase has virtually affected the globe, she said the impact on countries, have been different.
Source: thewillnigeria.com