Airlines in Nigeria have raised the alarm over the likely untimely extinction of domestic airlines should government fail to urgently come to their rescue in ameliorating the high cost of operations thrown at them as witnessed in the high cost of aviation fuel which has made fares being charged by the domestic carriers non-commensurate to the astronomical increase in the price of aviation fuel.
According to the Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, the twin effects of the high rise in the price of aviation fuel otherwise known as Jet A1, coupled with the lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government towards fluctuation in the exchange rate, are factors that could render aviation which he described as contributing four per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic (GDP) irrelevant.
Obiora declared that many of the airlines were worried that the commodity which costs between N180 and N190 per litre February last year has jumped to N400 per litre as of yesterday according to the Chairman of United Nigeria Airline, Dr Obiora Okonkwo.
Okonkwo who made the declaration while speaking to the media on the forthcoming one year anniversary of the airline existence on Saturday, February 12, 2022, said the present base fare charged by many of the airlines was no longer sustainable; an indication that airfare may rise on domestic route to cushion the effects of the cost of aviation fuel on the operators.
Though key players have continued to express concerns over the decision to hike fares on many of the underserved domestic routes that can hardly sustain Nigerian airlines’ bottom-line.
Some of the stakeholders who lamented the hike cost of Jet A1 which takes over 40 per cent of the carriers’ revenue said the decision would send many prospective air travellers to the motor part as the economic situation can hardly sustain many people take to air travel.
According to Okonkwo, “For every ticket you sell, you have five per cent in Tickets Sales Charge (TSC) directly to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). From the ticket, you pay the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). What remains?” he asked.
“From the ticket, salaries paid to staff have increased, costs have increased but tickets have not increased that much compared to the cost of operations. Operators are looking for solutions to many of these things. We can’t talk about safety without looking at rising costs.”
While warning that Jet A1 cost might even rise to N500 per litre before March 2022 which he said may obviously lead to an increase in the ticket price to bridge the cost, Okonkwo cautioned: “The aviation industry will collapse. The airline business is the livewire of the entire aviation value chain. If airlines don’t fly or the airlines are in comatose, NAMA, NCAA and FAAN will not get the required revenue to run their operations.”
He, however, called on the generality of airline operators in Nigeria to come together and prevail on the federal government to assist them before the entire system collapse with all domestic airlines going into extinction.
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