Politics News

Reps Warn Against High Airfares, Seek FG’s Intervention

The House of Representatives has warned against hike in the price of air ticket, saying that this may have dare consequences on the overall economy of the nation.

The House of Representatives also called on the Federal Government to intervene in the situation, warning that it may spell doom for the country if not nipped in the bud.

Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, the Chairman, House Committee on Aviation in a statement made available to DAILY INDEPENDENT, condemned the current hike in a one-way ticket, stressing that it was high time the Federal Government addressed the challenges confronting the indigenous airlines. One-way ticket in some local routes has rose to about N80,000 and N100,000, depending on the route and the airline an air traveller is flying with.

Nnaji observed that the challenges of the domestic airline operators may be responsible for the recent astronomical rise in airfares and called on the government to intervene urgently.

The airlines had last month complained of lack of access to foreign exchange at official rate, high cost of aviation fuel and the refusal of the Nigeria Customs and Excise to honour President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order exempting duties on aircraft importation and spares.

The operators equally listed high interest rate on loans, multiple taxations, and multiple entry points granted foreign airlines among others as major challenges affecting them.

These prompted the House Committee on Aviation to address a press conference last week urging Federal Government to urgently direct the Customs to obey the Executive Order of Mr. President, which granted airline operators waiver on commercial aircraft importation and spares.

The committee further suggested that a forex window similar to that offered to foreign airlines be created for the domestic airlines to enable them access foreign exchange at official rate.

Nnaji observed that air transportation remained the vehicle that drives other businesses and therefore should not be neglected.

He further noted that the security situation in the country at the moment had placed higher demands on the air transportation as the safest means of travel and reiterated the need to immediately rescue the industry from imminent collapse.

Also, Dr. Harold Demuren, the former Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has attributed recent high inflation, scarcity of forex and the dwindling fortune of naira against the dollars as some of the major challenges confronting the airlines.

Demuren in an interview with our correspondent at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, earlier in the week, noted that an average flight on any local route was still less than $100.

According to him, the recent inflation, which skyrocketed the prices of every commodity in the country was responsible for the seemingly hike in airfares.

He, however, canvassed for local interlining among the indigenous airlines, saying this would reduce the challenges faced by the travelling public.

He said: “The basic fare charged is still $100 on one hour flight. That has not really changed. What you are seeing is inflation; it is the forex, which is now about N480 in the black market.

“That is what you are seeing. The airlines are still charging less than N48,000 for a one-way flight. It is not that it is high, they have to get dollars, they have to change dollars to do that business. We are advocating also for local interlining so that when an airline cancels its flight, you can go on another airline. I think this is necessary for the business to grow.”

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