The high charges which have been a thing of concern to many travellers were expected to crash following the noticeable drop in the cost of aviation fuel also known as JET A1, in the past 4 weeks.
The cost of aviation fuel which before now, had a price tag of ₦900 per litre has crashed to a little above ₦600 per litre indicating a 20% reduction. The cost however varied across different states of the country.
In Lagos, the cost of aviation fuel was pegged at ₦630 per litre. The price in Port Harcourt was reported to be ₦650 per litre. Abuja - ₦670 per litre and ₦685 per litre in Kano.
The price of airfares in Nigeria has maintained a steady increase since 2020 and stakeholders have blamed many factors for the increment like the foreign exchange, duty charges on plane spare parts, and boarding passes.
They also highlighted the increase in passenger service charges which was increased by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN).
According to a report by Transport Fare Watch, airfares in Nigeria costs an average of ₦73,267.57 for flight tickets as of November 2022 and have remained in that bracket or higher.
With the cut in the price of aviation fuel, stakeholders had expected a reduction in the price of airfares since the cost of aviation fuel plays a huge role in determining the cost of flight tickets. Note that the cost of aviation fuel contributes to over 60% of the cost of flight operations.
According to ThisDay, an industry expert and the Managing Director and CEO of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi agreed that if the price of a significant commodity in production drops, the price of the end product should crash also.
Sanusi, however, argued that there were other factors responsible for fixing airfares which are still in play like the reunification of the naira. He said airfares in domestic travel will not drop immediately with the crash in the price of aviation fuel.
“In developed markets, if the price of fuel goes down you expect it to reflect in the fares, but in Nigeria, it is not that way. When prices go up, they rarely come down. Everything in Nigeria keeps on going up.”
“But the price of ticket in domestic travel will not reflect immediately but it will reduce the fares on international travel. The unified exchange rate may temporarily spike cost of dollars but eventually it will go down.” Sanusi added.