There’s no respite yet for airline operators in Nigeria over the skyrocketing price of Aviation fuel as the price hit 903 Naira per litre yesterday per the 808 Naira on Monday
The development has put pressure on airlines ticket to pass for as much as 200,000 Naira for a return – Lagos ton Abuja tickets while Lagos Kano return is between 150 thousand Naira and 200,000 Naira depending on the time of the day.
Many of the foreign carriers have even warned of the situation becoming worse and making Nigerian travellers pay even more unless the Federal Government begins to settle the outstanding $450 million that has been trapped in the country.
Air travel experts said most of the foreign carriers have stopped selling the lower fares inventory in Nigeria, leaving travellers with the expensive fares option described as the highest in the sub-region.
Reacting to the report, Tope Mark Odigie of Your View said, “I think that a thriving aviation industry is concurrent to a thriving economy.
Nigeria is not that big, we are popular but not that big in terms of land mass. Everywhere in Nigeria, the distance is about an hour from Lagos on a plane.
If the Aviation sector doesn’t work, it means people would be reluctant to do business in other parts of the country where it would take them hours to get there.
Insecurity: when we have challenges with road scares, people prefer to fly as a shorter way to do business. Everybody is not going to fly but the quality of business would be more when a flight can take you from one place to the other.
In America you will see the lineup for local flights every day, it shows trade. Two airlines have folded this year because of an inability to sustain funding.
This is not a conversation just around let’s help the sector because the issue facing the sector is the same issue facing manufacturing.
What can be done? When challenges comes up there’s a need for innovative strategic thinking. You cannot do the same thing you’re doing before. There must be collaboration.”
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