Domestic airlines may raise fares

Domestic airlines in the country may increase the fares payable on air ticket following the recent hike in the price of aviation fuel, popularly known as Jet-A1. According to them, a circular informing them of the increase in the price of aviation fuel from N115 per litre to N150 was issued in Lagos last week.

This is coming at a time when more foreign airlines are contemplating to halt their operations in the country following their inability to repatriate earnings to their various home countries. The domestic and foreign carriers made their challenges known to the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, during two separate meetings at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja on Monday.

Speaking on behalf of the domestic carriers, the Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Capt. Noggie Meggison, said the hike in aviation fuel price was in contrast to what was obtainable in other parts of the world, where the cost of Jet-A1 had been falling. The AON delegation had almost all the chief executive officers of the domestic carriers in attendance at the meeting.

The AON further stated that many airports in Nigeria lacked the capacity to operate in the evening, adding that most of them close by 6.30pm. Meggison cited the Benin airport as an instance, which he stated had no light on its runways, adding that once it was 6.30pm, it would be practically impossible for flights to land at the facility.

“I must say that 70 per cent of our delays and cancellation of flights during the harmattan and the rainy season are due to issues with navigation aids. In the last harmattan period, I know that the Calabar airport was closed for about three days because of poor visibility.”

The local airline operators also argued that they should receive greater priority than their foreign counterparts with respect to accessing foreign exchange. They told the minister that accessing forex from the parallel market was highly detrimental to their ventures and stressed that they wanted to access the foreign currency from the Central Bank of Nigeria directly.

In response, Sirika constituted two separate teams made up of himself, ministry officials and members of the AON to dialogue with the CBN and the Nigeria Customs Service over issues of forex and waivers on imported spare parts for the airlines.





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