•Other zones pay less •Experts blame empty return flights for spike
By Chinelo Obogo
Airfares to the South East have surged exponentially, with economy class tickets hitting N400,000.
The sharp increase contrasts starkly with the significantly cheaper rates available for flights to other regions of the country, with tongues wagging over the disparity in travel costs as the festive season peaks.
Daily Sun’s checks across the websites of different domestic airlines show that Anambra, Enugu, and Imo states have recorded the highest ticket costs, reflecting a significant disparity in what passengers travelling to the south east for the Yuletide have to pay compared to those traveling to other parts of the country.
For instance, United Nigeria Airline website shows that a one-way, one-hour flight on an economy seat from Abuja to Anambra on Friday, December 27, costs N400,000, while an hour flight from Abuja to Benin on the same day, costs N115,000. A one-way flight on an economy seat from Abuja to Enugu on the same airline for Wednesday, December 26 costs N300,000, while an hour and five minutes flight for the same day, from Abuja to Lagos, is N95,000 and from Abuja to Port Harcourt, N125,000. An hour flight from Abuja to Owerri for Friday, December 27, is N300, 000, while an hour flight from Abuja to Bayelsa for December 30th, costs N125, 000.
On Air Peace, a one hour flight from Abuja on Saturday, December 28th, cost N381,000, while an hour and 10 minutes flight from Abuja to Gombe, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Ibadan on the same day, costs N114,400, to Kano and Lagos, N95,000. A trip to Uyo, Akure and Ilorin on Sunday, December 29th cost N144, 400, while a trip to Calabar on the same day cost the same amount.
For Aero Contractors, an economy flight to Lagos from Abuja on Friday, December 27th, is sold for N89, 381, while on December 29th; passengers would have to pay N84, 619. Abuja to Sokoto costs N152, 000 on December 29th, while Abuja to Yola is N183,667 on Friday, December 27 and N176,000 on Saturday, December 28.
Chief Executive Officer of Top Brass Aviation, Roland Iyayi, has attributed this steep increase to empty return flights, which he said forces airlines to raise fares to cover their operational costs. He told Daily Sun that during festive periods, flights to the eastern part of the country from Lagos and other locations are usually full, while flights departing from the east are often empty. This is because passengers tend to stay in the east after traveling for the festivities and airlines cannot afford to charge fares that do not account for the empty return flights.
“During the Christmas period and most festive seasons, flights to the eastern part of this country out of Lagos and most other destinations are usually full to the east and the flights out of the east in this period are usually empty because when the passengers travel for the festive season, they stay back.
So an airline flying to the east during the festive season, cannot afford to charge fares that is not indicative of a return flight.
“What it means is that if for instance, they were charging N100,000 one way, because they would be coming back empty, to recover that base, they may decide to charge N150,000, N175,000 or N200,000 based on the load factor. The idea is that they would recover the return leg that would be empty on one way like a charter flight so that you do not run at a loss and this is for the period where they know they would be flying back empty,” he said.
