International airlines and travel agents operating in Nigeria are increasing the prices of tickets to locations such as Europe, the United States of America and the Middle East after the reference Naira/USD rate was moved Tuesday to N325.
International travel cost rose by six percent after adjustment of the reference dollar exchange rate from N315 from August 1 according to Bismarck Rewane, a Lagos based economist and a close watcher of the industry.
“Expectedly, the exchange rate fluctuations affect the prices of tickets, as airlines sell tickets in naira and repatriate their monies in dollars,” Tayo Ojuri, an industry expert and Chief Executive Officer, at Aglo Limited, an aviation support service, said.
BusinessDay checks show that a return economy class ticket on the Lagos-London route, which previously cost about N648,500 or less, a few months ago, when the inter-bank rate was N305 to a dollar, now costs N690,000 or more, this month, depending on airline or time of travel. This represents an almost six percent increase.
The famous Lagos-Dubai route, which a few months ago had a return economy ticket costing N240,000 or less, now costs N260,000 or more, representing a 7.6percent increase.
However, the load factors for these locations are spiking to as high as 96 percent, as airlines are strengthening their presence in the Nigerian market.
“The demand to travel to destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Dubai, has picked up again, considerably, compared to last year, when people opted to shift their travel destinations to African countries, while others postponed their trips, pending improvement in the economy.
“As a result of the oil crisis, Nigeria faced an economic downturn. However, I am happy to see that we are coming back much faster than expected. It is good news for everyone. However, while we were passing through the recession, leisure travel was affected, as people spent less on expenses that could be cut down,” Nilesh Thakkar, Chief Commercial Officer, Satguru Travels, told BuinessDay.
Some airlines are witnessing an over 20 percent rise in bookings, especially for new and cheaper destinations, and others are seeing almost double the number of passengers who booked for same destinations last summer.
Comparing passenger traffic in May 2016 and 2017, which is when most bookings for summer are confirmed, the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) recorded stability and growth in the volume of passengers. While about 223, 531 passengers travelled out of the country in May 2016, 243,994 went for the same purpose in May 2017.
Top among the destinations booked for summer include; London, Paris, Dubai, New York, Atlanta, the Caribbean Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago, while African destinations such as the Seychelles and Mauritius are beginning to fight for a share of the Nigerian holiday maker traffic with the likes of South Africa and Kenya.
Kola Olayinka, country manager, British Airways, attributed the positive development to the fact that Nigeria is seeing better times now, as airfares are stable when compared to this time last year when foreign airlines could not repatriate their funds and some airlines left. The situation was made worse by the very unstable foreign exchange scenario, which resulted in high fares and fewer bookings for summer last year.
“People still travel reasonably and there is need for it. Some people travel for leisure, some for business, and some for studies. The flights are doing very well,” Olayinka said.
British Airways will introduce a bigger and better Boeing 747 on its London-Lagos route from September 7, authorities of the airline disclosed.
Olayinka said each of the Lagos-bound Boeing 747 fondly referred to as the ‘Super High J Aircraft’ within the BA family would have 14 seats in first class, 86 in business class, 30 in world traveller plus and 145 in world traveller.
“The new aircraft is larger than the Boeing 777s which the airline currently operates and will add an extra 343 seats a week on the busy route between London and Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.
Two days ago, Ethiopian Airlines commenced flight operations to Kaduna with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which landed at the Kaduna International Airport from Addis Ababa at noon, carrying 17 passengers on board.
Samoa Zakaria, the Ethiopian Ambassador to Nigeria, said the airline had always been with Nigeria through good and bad times.
Zakaria said Kaduna was their fifth destination in Nigeria, after Lagos, Enugu, Abuja, and Kano, adding that it operates five destinations in only two countries, China and Nigeria.
He said that the airline was willing to begin operations to any destination, adding that Ethiopia recognised the big brother role being played by Nigeria in Africa.
Culled from Businessday
