Passengers groan as one hour flight cost over N100K
EMERGENCY DIGEST- AIR travelers have begun groaning bitterly under the prohibitive fares airline operators have rolled out for flights within Nigeria as a one-hour flight now costs over a hundred thousand (N100, 000) naira.
When our reporter visited the domestic wings of the Lagos airport on Tuesday, many of the travelers lamented the sharp increase in airfares.
Investigation revealed that economy class domestic tickets from Lagos to Abuja via Arik Air, United Nigeria and Air Peace as of the time of filing this report cost over N150,000, other airlines have since followed suit.
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An angry traveler who gave his name only as Ubong and claimed to have been a frequent traveler said, “This is not the time to ask for my name, the federal government and all those concerned should do the needful, why does the average Nigerian have to suffer. I mean, we are a fuel producing nation, why are we suffering?
“Everybody is just doing as they like, how can you say Lagos to Abuja is N154,000, am I plucking money from the tree? The roads are not safe, so travel by road and get kidnapped. Those that were kidnapped on the train how many months ago are still in captivity. Which account will I write this expense?”
Another traveler who said she had to make the trip as she was going on business said, “The Nigerian travelling populace is made up of mostly business people, should we now spend all our earnings on air transport? I can’t even begin to explain how this makes me feel,” Miss Nike concluded.
It was learnt that the increase in price of aviation fuel (Jet A1) and its scarcity is a contributory factor to the hike in fares.
A litre of Jet A1 that was selling for N400 now sells for over N800 per litre. The airlines have also complained about difficulties in getting forex.
