In a new report titled, “Transport Fare Watch (April 2022),”
the NBS said airfares recorded a 19 per cent increase when gauged on a
month-on-month basis.
On state profile analysis, Taraba recorded the highest air
transport charges (for specified routes single journey) in April 2022 with
N65,000.00, followed by Kogi with N64,258.91, while Kano recorded the least
with N50,000.00.
Analysis by zone also showed that the North-Central recorded
the highest airfare in April, 2022 with N57,552.54, followed by the North-East
with N56,800.16, while the South-East had the least with N53,402.58.
The significant hike in airfares, according to findings, is
not unconnected to the recent challenges faced by local airlines, ranging from
energy price hikes to lack of access to foreign exchange.
The PUNCH had earlier reported how domestic airline
operators threatened to ground their operations due to a substantial increase
in the price of Jet A1, also called aviation fuel.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, an official
in the Corporate Affairs Department of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, the
umbrella body for local carriers, Mr. Ewos Iroro, described the factors behind
the increase of airfares as obvious concerns which the operators had clamoured
about over the past few months.
According to him, the onus of relieving the sector of the
bottlenecks affecting the operations of the airlines is a responsibility the
government should take more seriously.
He said, “We know what has been happening in the sector in
the last few months. The price of jet fuel has gone up. There are so many
factors. All the factors are already out there. Airlines don’t determine most
of the factors. Airlines are also operating in a system.”
The Chief Executive Officer, TopBrass Aviation, Captain
Roland Iyayi, also blamed the inability of the government to solve certain
fundamental challenges as the reason behind the spike in airfares in the last
one year.
According to him, energy costs constitute about 50 per cent
of airlines operating cost. This, he said, would invariably give rise to a
corresponding hike in airfares.
Iyayi said, “I think the solution is actually in the hands
of the government. If for instance, our refineries were working, the cost of
fuel would have been lower than what it is today. Fuel, for airlines constitute
about 50 per cent of their direct operating cost. So, if you take that fuel
increased from N150 to about N700; that’s about 400 per cent increase, but
nobody is talking about that. If fuel increased by 400 per cent and airfares
increased by 52%, and fuel comprises 50 per cent of the direct operating cost
of an airline’s cost of production, then there is something very significantly
wrong. I would assume that based on those numbers, airlines may not even be
breaking even.”
Also speaking, an economic expert at the Pan-Atlantic
University, Associate Professor Emeka Osuji described the hike as inevitable
considering recent events in the aviation sector and the attendant economic
consequences of these events.
He said, “Aviation fuel has gone up. I don’t blame the
airlines. When aviation fuel goes up like it has done, you have to expect an
increase. The politicians have taken all the dollars for their political
activities. Everything about an aircraft is dollarised, now the dollar has gone
up to N600. When that happens you don’t need anybody to tell you what it will
give rise to.”
Osuji also said the economy had been badly managed and
decried Nigeria’s continued inability to refine fuel for local consumption.
According to him,
much of the energy crisis that has led to increased cost of production would
have been tackled if the government had been alive to their responsibilities. -
PUNCH