Amid strengthening of the naira against the United States dollar and clearance of trapped fund belonging to foreign airlines, airfares has dropped by 41.19 percent.
BUSINESSINSIDERNG gathered that their is a decrease in the cost of round-trip economy class tickets from Lagos to London.
Also, trip from Lagos to New York also recorded a drop in fare in the same period.
There is a notable difference in the costs of air tickets sold on March 4, 2024, compared to those on Saturday.
As of Saturday, the round-trip economy class ticket from Lagos to London varied in cost among different airlines.
For instance, RwandAir Express offered it at N1,102,563; Royal Air Maroc at N1,628,675; and Ethiopian Airlines at N1,641,249.
However, on March 4, 2024, a round-trip economy class ticket from Lagos to London attracted significantly higher prices. Air France priced it at N2,482,138, while Lufthansa offered it at N1,966,165. Qatar Airways provided the same ticket for N2,016,824, and KLM priced it at N2,448,740.
The average fare for flights on March 30 amounted to approximately N1,457,495.67, reflecting a decrease from the prices observed on March 4, which averaged approximately N2,478,466.75
Also, the Lagos to New York route on Qatar Airways, the ticket was sold for N2,982,049 as of March 4. However, as of Saturday, it was sold for N1,989,098.
KLM charged N3,158,314; Air France priced it at N3,148,308; United Airlines listed it at N3,193,185, and Delta Air Lines offered the ticket for N3,310,097, on March 4, 2024.
Speaking on ticket crash, the President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, stated that that virtually all the foreign carriers opened their low fares before the CBN announcement of the payment of the $7bn about two weeks ago, adding that low fares were opened about two weeks before the apex bank announcement.
Akporiaye said, “All of them (foreign airlines) have opened up all the inventories before the final backlog of forex was cleared. It is not now that it was cleared. It was cleared earlier in March.
“It is the only airline that has not done that. All of them have opened up all the inventories before the final forex backlog was cleared.
“We had a few that had issues – the unverified ones. There were some transactions for which some documents were not available. They were unverified. And those that were not cleared in February because they were unverified are those that have just been cleared.”
The NANTA President pointed out that one foreign airline had yet to open up its low-priced tickets, saying, “Before this final clearance, the airlines had already reduced inventories, except for one airline, which I won’t mention due to privacy, and I’m sure that the reason why they haven’t complied is a management thing.”
She emphasised that the airlines had been cooperative, but challenges such as unverified transactions caused delays.
“The money the airlines are saying that they are still owed is money with the commercial banks and not with the government, because commercial banks are private. They are not government entities,” Akporiaye added.
Another travel agent, Enebeli Alloy, acknowledged that airlines were indeed releasing cheaper fares but noted that the rates were still relatively high.
“The airlines are complying. They are releasing some cheap classes on the system now. The only complaint now is that the rate at which they are selling is still high. But I believe it will reduce gradually. It won’t be done overnight.”