Airfares High As Aviation Fuel Up By 69%

The increasing price of aviation fuel also called Jet A1 has pushed up airfares along all routes in the country.

Investigations showed that the price of the aviation fuel has risen by 69 per cent from N160 per litre to between N250 and N270 per litre.

This has led to a hike in airfares as some travellers complained that a Lagos to Abuja one-way ticket last Sunday was about N120, 000.

A source that operates helicopter services in Lagos told Daily Trust that the aviation fuel is imported into the country without any form of subsidy from the federal government.

“A litre is now N275 per litre and I can tell you there is a lot of fake fuel out there now. Any fuel you find is sold for N210 or N220 per litre is fake and this is dangerous for aviation,” the source added.

It was gathered that the high naira to dollar exchange rate contributed significantly to the costly aviation fuel as one dollar exchanged for N485 in the parallel market on Thursday.

The Chairman and CEO of United Nigeria Airlines, Obiora Okonkwo said on Wednesday that when his airline started operation on February 12, 2021, the price of aviation fuel was about N160 per litre but it has risen to over N250.

For air transport business to remain profitable, he said airline did not have an alternative than to pass the cost to the passengers, which led to the increase in airfares.

He expressed regret that the prices of the product could rise suddenly without opportunity for airlines to make projections and noted that aviation fuel constitutes 30 to 40 per cent of the total cost of production.

He called for government intervention to reduce the price of aviation fuel in view of the critical role of air transport in the country.

Other experts urged the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) wade into the matter by deepening its oversight on aviation fuel suppliers to ensure that the quality of fuel was not compromised.

Also, a former CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, reiterated that cost of fuel constituted 30-40 per cent of operational cost of airlines.

He added that airlines would lose immensely from the increase in fuel cost because passengers had paid for tickets at the cost of old price of fuel but now they would be airlifted when airlines have paid higher for fuel.

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By 9jatravel / Administrator, bbp_keymaster

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on Apr 16, 2021

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