Nigerians travelling to international destinations have heaved a sigh of relief with the fall in cost of ticket to all destinations. The most affected is the Lagos-London route, from where it is projected that over 1000 people travel from Nigeria to UK every day.
Two factors have been attributed to the fall of the airfares: the entrant of Air Peace to Nigeria’s most lucrative international destination, Lagos-London route and the appreciation of the Naira.
At the height of Naira slump, Business Class was going for N11 million. But a one way economy class ticket from Lagos to London on British Airways which cost N3 million for Economy and N11 million for Business Class, recently dropped to N1.7 million for economy and N6.8million for Business Class respectively.
On Lufthansa, a one way economy class ticket from Lagos to London, which also cost about N3 million and N9 million for Business class now cost N2 million for economy class and N7 million for Business Class.
On Virgin Atlantic, the same destination, which cost about N2 million for Economy, N5 million for Economy Premium and N12 million for Business Class now cost N1.5 million for Economy, N3 million for Premuim and N6 million for Business Class.
For the Lagos- London route, Ethiopian Airlines is the cheapest carrier, charging N838, 000 for a one-way economy class ticket on the route. Passengers
Qatar Airways charges N900, 000 for a one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to London and will take as much as 36 hours for the travellers to arrive in London. Air Peace, which operates direct flight of six hours on the route, charges about N800, 000 to N1 million for one way ticket.
Other airlines are Asky Airlines and Royal Air Maroc charging N1,049,000 and N1,054,000 respectively with 20 hours and 10 hours flight time respectively.
For Business Class ticket, Air Peace charges the cheapest for a one way ticket on the Lagos-London route with a fare of N1.9million, Royal Air Maroc is N2.1million, Qatar Airways is N2.8million, Turkish Airways N3.8 million, and Lufthansa N5.2 million.
For a one-way economy class ticket on the Lagos-US route, Egypt Air charges the cheapest fare which goes for N1,064,000, Kenya Airways N1.14 million, Qatar N1.4 million, Ethiopian Airlines N1.5million and Royal Air Maroc N1.56 million.
For Business Class tickets, Egypt Air charges the cheapest with a fare of N2.7 million, Kenya Airways N4.8 million, Turkish Airlines N5million, Virgin Atlantic N5million and United Airlines N5.4 million.
Price war has further intensified on the Lagos-London route, as foreign airlines have literally crashed the cost of tickets to the destination.
The President of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, explained that while Air Peace’s arrival has certainly shaken things up, the main reason for the drop in flight ticket prices, particularly with foreign airlines, is the recent appreciation of the Naira.
