Yuletide: Passengers Lament Air Fares Surge On Local Routes

Air fares on domestic routes for Yuletide travels have increased astronomically forcing travellers to weigh options of patronizing other modes of transportation as bookings for intended trips between Lagos and Southeastern routes for Monday December 18, 2023 hit N171,500 on a one – way booking by one of the carriers.

Passengers are not only trapped in the difficulty of raising more funds to purchase their tickets ,they are also struggling to get seats aboard the aircraft as most seats have been taken by early booking.

Investigations reveal that despite the harsh economic conditions more people still opt to patronise the air mode of travel because of insecurity, kidnapping and banditry on the highway.

On the portal of one of the local carriers, seats for afternoon flights for Monday have all been taken.

Besides the Lagos / Owerri route, proposed travel for the same Monday on the Lagos / Enugu rotation is going for between N171,500 and N266,800 for a one way trip.

On the same airline portal, most of the seats have been taken.

Fares for flights between Lagos / Anambra Airport for a one way trip are hovering between N143 , 000 and N266,800 for limited seats.

Booking travel for Monday December 18,2023, is going for N173,500 and N283, 000.

Flights between Lagos and Port Harcourt are going for between N143,000 and N238,000 for a one way booking.

While passengers lament the escalating price of air tickets, industry experts attributed the spike to high cost of operations triggered by increasing price of aviation fuel , monopoly on routes , fewer aircrafts in the fleet of local carriers and the effects of demand and supply for air travel services.

Industry experts cite exploitation by operators who feed fat on the traffic on South East and South South routes, which command the highest fares.

Some passengers on the routes have called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ,NCAA, to call the exploitative carriers to order.

Bookings on routes between Lagos and Abuja for one way trip for Monday December 18, 2023 range between N85,800 and N100,300.

Booking for the same day of travel between Lagos and Kano is going for between N100,300, N105,000 and N238200 respectively.