Nigerians are beginning to take hard decisions in order to cut costs.
Some Nigerian travellers told The Punch that they were beginning to fly through neighbouring airports in order to cut costs.
A businessman, Mr Joe Anakwe, said he recently moved to Ghana and flew from there to Dubai.
“Yes, it is cheaper, but it is also meant to have fewer hassles,” he said. Those countries do not have a dollar crisis like we do, and their flight costs are cheaper when compared with buying in naira,” he said.
Another Nigerian traveller, Charles Sawoe, noted that the forex challenges sometimes made cost of flights higher by over 50 per cent in Nigeria.
“I have agents in Ghana and France. Those countries do not have issues with forex the way it is here. So, they buy tickets for me at cheaper rates. At times, I fly through Ghana, but sometimes I move through Lagos. But the most important thing for me is that I don’t normally buy tickets here the way I used to,” he said.
According to the president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, Susan Akporiaye, Nigerians had started flying from Accra, Ghana, to London, Canada and other frequently visited destinations.
Speaking to The PUNCH in a telephone interview, Akporiaye said, “Nigerians are already flying from Ghana to other countries because the lower inventories of tickets are no longer available in Nigeria. People go to Accra because Accra still has the lowest inventory available.
“By the time all airlines restrict sales to only the highest inventories like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have done, then more people will move to Accra to fly,” she added.
Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria have since blocked all low ticket inventories on their websites, making it difficult for passengers to buy affordable tickets.
NANTA’s president said, “Yes it’s true because they get it cheaper that way, but you know even out of Nigeria, you get cheaper prices. It’s just that you have to issue the tickets out of Nigeria. For example, the restrictions on the lower fares happen just in Nigeria because of the forex crisis. It does not exist in Ghana, South Africa, London or the US. So, for instance, Virgin Atlantic is selling the highest economy at N1.7m for Lagos-London-Lagos flight. You don’t even have to go to Accra even though Virgin Atlantic doesn’t fly from Accra. I’m just using that as an example. You don’t even have to go there to fly. All you have to do is get a travel agent in London who will see a lower fare of N500,000 plus, but I won’t see it. That N550,000 naira flight has been taken off for agents in Nigeria to issue. For agents in Nigeria, you can only issue the high one. So, I don’t even need to tell my customer to go to Accra or go to South Africa and fly, no. All I need to do is contact a colleague in London and he will get a cheaper fare. Once he gets it, I pay the person, he issues the ticket and my passenger can still fly from Lagos to London.
“So, yes, people are doing it but they really don’t have to. But then again, they forget that they also have to issue Nigeria to Accra and back except people that live in Lagos and can go by road. But for us that live in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria, you have to issue tickets to Accra and back, so at the end of the day, what are you saving?
“Rather than fly to other West African countries, Nigerians aiming to travel can log in to the airline’s websites. Lower fares are on their websites and since they’re not based in Nigeria, payment will be made in the currency of the country, so that’s another way we can get lower fares as their website is domiciled in their countries.
he PUNCH, in the early hours of Thursday, reported that Emirates Airlines had announced the suspension of its flight operations in Nigeria from September 1, 2022. The airline said the suspension became necessary following its inability to repatriate its funds from Nigeria.
International carriers operating in Nigeria have repeatedly complained about their inability to repatriate funds to their home countries. They have raised this concern on many occasions with officials of the Federal Ministry of Aviation as well as those at the Ministry of Finance.
Blocked funds belonging to these airlines have risen to about $600m and this is due to the inability of the Central Bank of Nigeria to make the dollar available for the carriers to repatriate, operators say.
-Punch
