Travel Agents Optimistic as Airfares on International Flights Drop, Signaling Naira’s Strength against Dollar
Travel agents have expressed optimism and joy that airfares on international destinations are beginning to come down as the appreciation of the Naira over dollar has started reflecting on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) exchange rate, which is the bench mark that foreign airlines use to determine their fares.
The General Managing Director,
Flinchglow Holdings Limited and immediate past President of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mr. Bankole Bernard, told THISDAY in an exclusive telephone interview that airfares are going down because it is a reflection of what is going on in the foreign exchange market.
He said in determining the exchange rate, IATA depended on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rate.
This, he added, has brought relief stressing however that the cost of tickets is still high because $1,000 ticket is N1.3 million as at Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Bernard who operates some of the biggest travel agencies in Nigeria, said another relief is that foreign airlines are beginning to open up their lower inventories or cheap fares to Nigerian travellers, which were hitherto closed because of the drastic depreciation of the Naira, exacerbated by the inability of the operators to repatriate their revenues from the country.
He added that even when the fares were high, Nigerians were still travelling, “and now that the fares are coming down more Nigerians will travel. The planes that are leaving Nigeria are always full because Nigerians are passionate about travelling. Now, what we are gaining as travel agents is that we are no more buying tickets from outside because when the fares were high in Nigeria and the lower inventories were open in other countries, we were buying tickets through other countries because they were cheaper there but very costly in Nigeria. Airlines were opening up their lower inventories outside Nigeria and we were buying in foreign currency. Naira was not favourable to the airlines. So, we are getting our market share back. Planes are filled up with passengers every day.”
THISDAY learnt that Qatar Airways is the only airline that most of the time operates two flights a day from the nation’s busiest airport, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Bernard explained that one of the reasons why airfares in Nigeria are high compared to other countries in West and Central Africa is because the taxes paid by airlines that operate to Nigeria are high.