Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have revealed that the average airfare paid by passengers on specified routes for a single journey has increased by 52% in the past 12 months.
The surge in airfares cannot but be linked to the recent challenges faced by local airlines, which include an unusual hike in energy prices, and lack of access to foreign exchange.
Recently, airline operators announced a decision to suspend their operations due to a surge in the price of aviation fuel, Jet A1.
While speaking in an interview, the Chief Executive Officer, TopBrass Aviation, Captain Roland Iyayi, blamed the inability of the government to solve certain fundamental challenges as the reason behind the spike in airfares in the last one year.
According to him, energy costs constitute about 50 per cent of airlines operating cost. This, he said, would invariably give rise to a corresponding hike in airfares.
Also speaking, an economic expert at the Pan-Atlantic University, Associate Professor Emeka Osuji, the hike was inevitable considering recent events in the aviation sector and their attendant economic consequences.
Osuji further reiterated that the economy had been badly managed and decried Nigeria’s continued inability to refine fuel for local consumption.
According to him, much of the energy crisis that has led to increased cost of production would have been tackled if the government had been alive to its responsibilities.
He, however, blamed the government for being dead to their responsibilities expressing that much of the energy crisis that has led to increased cost of production would never have been an issue.
