The Federal Govt, during the Minister of Flying and Aerospace Building, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed ongoing efforts to deal with the top charge of wind tickets for each home and world proceed pace additionally pronouncing improvements in airport security and safety.
Keyamo disclosed this in his remarks on the Ministerial Press Briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
Talking at the factor, he defined key elements contributing to exorbitant fares, together with restricted get admission to to reasonably priced plane leasing, trapped price range of international airways, and top airport taxes.
Keyamo famous that Nigerian airways try to rent plane at aggressive charges, forcing them to go for expensive leasing or the outright acquire of plane, which in the long run impacts price tag costs.
“We now have home tickets, and we have now world tickets. I mentioned home tickets and the truth that we don’t have get admission to to rent plane at an overly affordable charge.
We will be able to handiest move for the very pricey choice of leasing plane or purchasing plane. We’re addressing that. We will be able to see the consequences very quickly with the Cape The city Conference and the Dublin Convention we’re going to. The offers are coming in, so we can see the consequences upcoming,” he mentioned.
He mentioned efforts have been additionally ongoing between the federal government and international airways to deal with the price of airfares.
Keyamo additionally uncovered how international airways had intentionally inflated price tag costs for Nigerian vacationers because of uncertainties over once they would be capable of repatriate their income.
“We called international airlines and asked what they used to do. They said if you want to buy international tickets, you will see business class Z, grade J, different grades, but it’s all the same. One can be N2m cheaper than the other. Those ones, they opened it for countries they knew that once they sold the ticket, they could get their money immediately. But they now opened only the high fare for Nigerian passengers since the last 3-4 years,” he not hidden.
Consistent with him, airways prepared top price tag costs for Nigerian passengers as a result of they feared forex depreciation would erode the price in their income prior to they might convert them to greenbacks.
“They said because they were taking into account inflationary rates of the money that will be trapped, they don’t know where they will get the money back, so they were building on top of it, inflationary rates, that by the time they want to get the money back, the naira may have collapsed. So instead of selling a ticket for N2m or N3m, they will sell it for 7m. Whereas Ghana will sell it for that price. Ghana is cheaper than Nigeria. This was an issue of policy,” he mentioned.
To opposite the fad, the federal government is actively enticing with world airways to assure that fares for Nigerian passengers mirror the cleared backlog of trapped price range.
“President Bola Tinubu, being very smart on this, cleared that first. And so we called them and said, look, it was recently we called them, you have been enjoying this high price because Nigerians were paying. So by the time we cleared this thing, they were still enjoying the high fares. We said, no, you cannot continue to enjoy it. We have cleared the backlog, so you cannot continue to open up the high tickets only to Nigerian passengers,” Keyamo said.
He mentioned the Nigerian Civil Flying Authority is discussions with airways to assure they regulate their pricing, pace additionally addressing alternative cost-related problems, together with taxation.
“So that discussion is going on now. NCAA is championing that, and I think they held a parliament with them recently on that, with one or two other factors in terms of high taxation. Our airport, they say, is the highest in Africa, their taxes,” he mentioned.
He stated that prime government-imposed taxes at Nigerian airports give a contribution to pricey tickets. On the other hand, he clarified that addressing those taxes will require collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.
“Nigerian Airspace Management Authority and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria are looking at them to see what we can do about it. Because it’s not my call. We have to talk to the Minister of Finance to do that. So, don’t look at the Aviation Minister alone. I’m not in charge of revenue. I have no right to say I will reduce revenue. The money is not my money,” he added.
He additional famous that airways issue those top taxes into price tag costs, passing the prices directly to passengers.
“The taxes imposed in our airports and navigation routes, they say, is one of the highest in Africa. And the airlines come here, they bill that too because they have to pay. And that trickles down to the passengers. So we will tackle that,” Keyamo famous.