More Nigerians shut out from flying as airlines’ fares soar

The skyrocketing costs of air tickets by local airlines has continued to shut out several Nigerians from travelling by air.

A one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to Abuja on Air Peace, Ibom Air, Green Africa and ValueJet which cost between N50,000 to N65,000 last year currently cost between N130,000 to N220,000 depending on airline and travel day or time.

Also, a one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to Enugu on Air Peace and Green Africa which cost an average of N60,000 last year is currently selling between N140,000 to as much as N500,000.

A one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to Owerri which cost an average of N60,000 last year now costs between N150,000 to as much as N600,000 on Green Africa and Air Peace.

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A one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to Kano which cost an average of N75,000 last year now costs between N150,000 to N650,000 on Air Peace depending on date of travel and ticket inventories.

“It has become increasingly difficult to travel with my children to Abuja to spend the weekend with their dad who works in Abuja because of the costs of tickets,” Patience Kofo, told BD Sunday.

According to her, before now, she spent between N500,000 to N600,000 to buy return tickets for herself and her three children from Lagos to Abuja but currently, it would take an average of N1.5 million to travel with her children to the same destination.

“It is sad that I have to cough out as much as N1.5 million to travel with my children from Lagos to Abuja and back. So instead of spending on tickets, we have decided to cut down on our travel expenditure and just wait till my husband has time to come and pay us a visit in Lagos,” Kofo said.

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Musa Iyal, a frequent traveller to Kano told BusinessDay that the situation is worse on the Kano route because Air Peace is the only active airline flying to Kano, making the route a monopoly for Air Peace.

“I wanted to buy a ticket from Kano to Lagos two days ago and Air Peace was selling for N230,000 for a one-way ticket. I had to suspend my trip because if I travel spending this much on just air tickets, my profits on the business I hope to do in Lagos would be eroded. I had to seek alternate ways of doing the business without being physically present in Lagos,” Iyal told BusinessDay.

In the last few months, few aircraft have had to feed several passengers on domestic routes as Nigerian airlines struggle with fleet reduction as a result of high cost of maintenance.

Airlines that have sent their aircraft on maintenance are unable to return them as a result of the skyrocketing costs as a result of the foreign exchange scarcity.

While others have been forced by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground their aircraft for inability to send the aircraft for maintenance, BusinessDay’s checks show.

In addition to these, the grounding of Dana Air, a relatively low-cost carrier which had six aircraft in its fleet, has also impacted on the fleet operating the domestic routes.

Also, routes that Dana Air previously operated have seen an increase in cost of tickets.

The Lagos -Abuja route has seen more passenger glut than other routes as airlines.

Data by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), showed that between January and July 2022, 9,473,813 people opted for domestic air travel. In 2023, only 8,176,722 travelled by air, indicating a 13 per cent drop.

Further figures obtained from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, revealed a decline in non-revenue and revenue travels at the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, the country’s busiest airport.

Statistics by FAAN showed that between January and December 2022, MMIA recorded 1,021,429 (non-revenue and revenue passengers) travels. During the same period in 2023, FAAN logged 781,894 passengers, marking a 23 per cent drop in passenger traffic.

Stakeholders in the aviation sector say the traffic drop may get worse as ticket prices continue to increase.

Data obtained by BusinessDay Sunday from NCAA on Thursday showed that 13 domestic airlines operating in Nigeria which include Aero, Air Peace, Arik, Azman, Dana, Green Africa, Ibom Air, Max Air, NG Eagle, Overland, Reno Air, United Nigeria Airline and Value Jet put together operate a total of 91 aircraft. This data includes aircraft that have gone on maintenance.

Sources close to the NCAA told BusinessDay that apart from Dana Air that has been grounded, over half of the 91 aircraft have gone on maintenance, putting a strain on the few operating aircraft.

BusinessDay’s checks show that five years ago, when just 10 domestic airlines operated on Nigerian routes, they had over 120 fleets.

Travel experts say the reduction in aircraft has made travel exclusively for the rich and made some airlines a monopoly on certain routes.

“If you walk up to any counter at the domestic airport terminals, if you don’t have a minimum of N200,000, you may not get a seat.

“Surprisingly, some of the airlines now tell you that they are selling premium economy to you, whereas there is nothing like premium economy. They sell you Business Class and when you get onboard the aircraft, you’ll see that it is an economy class that has been sold to you,” Olumide Ohunayo industry analyst and Director, Research, Zenith Travels told BusinessDay.

Ohunayo said the situation has been a problem that is ongoing and has continued to happen on routes where Dana operated.

“The withdrawal of Dana’s license and the grounding of aircraft that can’t go on maintenance due to lack of foreign exchange has led to reduction in fleet size.

“The grounding of Dana is a major problem. We need to find a way around this capacity problem and seat availability. The passengers have not increased but the supply of aircraft has dwindled. The passengers are really suffering during this period,” he said.

When the naira-dollar exchange rate was N400/$, airlines paid between N200 million and N400 million to carry out C-check maintenance on an aircraft. But with the exchange rate of about N1589/$, airlines have to pay between N794 million and N1.5bn to carry out C-check on a single aircraft.

Airlines were already paying high insurance premiums due to the country’s perception as a high risk operating environment and the alleged high insurance premium demanded by local insurance firms in Nigeria.

The high cost of spare parts and aircraft maintenance has forced most Nigerian airlines to park their aircraft across airports in Nigeria, leaving the airports with more ‘aircraft on ground’ than those flying.

Sources close to airport security disclosed that some airlines take parts from one aircraft to fix another, just to keep an aircraft on the air as it has become increasingly difficult to source for dollars to buy spares.

A visit to the Lagos airport airside recently showed some airlines having aircraft types at various points at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Local wing old CAFU apron and Apron by Runway 18L) which are not operational.

BD Sunday’s findings show that while some aircraft don’t have engines on them, some aircraft types such as Boeing 737, Embraer 145s and Embraer E2s have their engines covered up.

Also, outside Aero Contractors hanger, there are several Boeing 737s which are either undergoing maintenance or parked after maintenance awaiting collection.

By the Runway 18L holding point, is what has become a graveyard of aircraft. Ranging from Airbus 340, B737-200 ,300, B727 owned by operational and defunct commercial airlines.

Findings show that over 70 aircraft have been abandoned across Nigerian airports, with most at the Lagos airport airside.