The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has backed the plan by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to conduct an investigation into the high airfares in the domestic market by indigenous airlines.
Mrs Susan Akporiaye, the President, NANTA, told journalists in Lagos on Saturday that the plan was a welcome development and would ensure sanity in the system.
NANTA had a few weeks ago taken decisive advocacy steps, and complained to the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the National Assembly Committee on Aviation to wade into the issue.
NANTA insisted that the high airfares among the local operators had made life difficult for the members of the Nigerian travelling public and also negatively the survival of travel trade professionals in the country.
She said: “NANTA is elated beyond measures by the response of the Federal Government through its consumer protection and regulatory agency to wade into this matter, which has become seemingly unending.
“We want to appreciate the government through the Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, who has assured the sector that investigations would commence into the present structure of airfares in Nigeria and bring it to an acceptable regime.”
Akporiaye described Irukera’ s announcement as a Christmas and new year gift to travel agents who she regretted had borne the backlash of the fare hike by airlines operating in Nigeria.
She declared that the travel agencies would provide to FCCPC whatever information that could help bring back sanity to fare management issues and give some respite to the Nigerian customers.
Irukera had on Thursday in Abuja, promised to run a detailed investigation into the high airfare regime in Nigeria, noting that as important as that may sound, it was however a difficult task determining price hikes, particularly airfare.
He declared that there was a provision in law against price gouging, maintaining that Nigeria was a free market economy where the buyer and seller agree to determine cost.
He also explained that FCCPC as a regulator had no power to impose price, noting that it could only determine excessive pricing through investigation.
He enthused that forensic studies in airfare pricing remained the most complex in the market investigation ecosystem, adding that it was possible to travel at a short distance and pay more, even with someone sitting beside you, paying something different.
He maintained that there are many issues that must be considered when investigating hikes on airfare.
“We believe that airfare in Nigeria is too high, but it will amount to an abuse of office by the regulatory authority to take action just because we feel the price is high. Our duty is to establish evidence and confront the body, and that’s hard work,” he said.
Return tickets on some select local routes, especially in the South have climbed to over N500,000 in recent weeks, while the minimal airfares to any routes in the country at present is about N150,000.
Mr. Yinka Folami, the Vice President of NANTA, in a recent interview with Daily Independent, had decried that the present high airfares on the domestic routes were negatively affecting the fortunes of the travel agencies.
He lamented that the current fares are way ahead of the economic powers of many Nigerians.
Also, Capt. Ado Sanusi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Aero Contractors, said that the airfares were exploitative.
According to Sanusi, some airfares in select routes are exploitative, mentioning the South East and South South routes as some of the routes the airlines are exploiting the travelling public.
