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By Chinelo Obogo
Eight international airlines release have released their lower inventories following the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The acting Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo, had recently convened a two-day meeting with the foreign airlines operating in Nigeria to tackle the issue of astronomical increase in air tickets and the urgent need to unblock all low inventory tickets which were hitherto blocked for over 18 months.
The meeting which held at the headquarters of the NCAA, in Abuja, had in attendance representatives from the NCAA, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) while the International Air Transport Association (IATA) made presentation on behalf of foreign airlines.
Rising from the meeting, the Authority expressed strong reservations over the high cost of fares and discriminatory practices against Nigerians by the foreign airlines and called for immediate reversal of the trend. One of the key resolutions at the end of the meeting between the Authority, FCCPC, NANTA and the foreign airlines was for the reduction in the cost of tickets and for the airlines to unconditionally unblock all lower inventory tickets to the Nigerian market.
Following the instruction of the Authority, Lufthansa Airlines, KLM, Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways, Royal Air Maroc, RwandAir, and Turkish Airlines have all released all categories of low inventory tickets while Air France has failed to comply with the directives.
In a statement, Capt. Najomo said: “In the last several months, Nigerians have been made to pay higher fares on international flights unjustly as all the foreign airlines increased their flight tickets astronomically citing the high exchange rate as well as other sundry issues and also deliberately blocked low inventory tickets making travel unbearable for Nigerians.
“This is very discriminatory in nature. We cannot continue to pay higher fares compared to other countries in the sub-region that have similar distances, using same operating aircraft. We have the market and in some cases we have more liberal taxes? This is unacceptable and we totally reject this.”
Subsequently, Capt. Najomo, set up a 10-man committee to continue discussions into the high cost of tickets in the country which is chaired by Director of Special Duties NCAA, Mr. Horatius Egua. He is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the foreign airlines fully comply with the directives of the government to unblock all low inventory tickets as well as recommend appropriate pricing of tickets in Nigeria compared to similar markets in the West African sub-region.
