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By Chinelo Obogo
Despite the shutting down of Niger Republic’s airspace by the country’s military junta, the cost of international flight tickets from Nigeria has not been affected.
The clarification followed speculations that the closure of Niger airspace by the military junta that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum had spiked international air fares for Nigeria.
General Abdourahmane Tchiani, closed Niger’s airspace to overflying aircraft effective last Sunday, when several flights were already airborne.
Airspace over Sudan and Libya is already closed to commercial aviation. The addition of Niger means there is now a block to north-south flights across Africa stretching around 2,600 miles from western Niger to the Red Sea.
There were fears that the closure of Niger Republic’s airspace will increase the cost of flights from Nigeria to Europe which has already doubled after foreign airlines blocked the lower inventory of tickets due to their inability to repatriate funds from tickets from Nigeria.
At the moment, economy tickets for most airlines from Nigeria sell at over one million naira, while business class tickets sell for over two million naira.
On the effect of Niger closing its air space, the Chairman of Stanbic IBTC, Atedo Peterside, said on his social media handle that,” Burkina Faso and/or Mali join Niger in declining overflight rights to Nigerian bound aircraft, then inbound and outbound flights from Nigeria to Europe will become very expensive.”
Speaking to Daily Sun on whether the closure of Niger’s air space has caused any spike in the cost of tickets for international, flights, the president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), which is the Umbrella body of all Travel Agencies operating in Nigeria, Susan Akporiaye, said prices have remained the same but that it may change as a result of the crisis in Niger.
“We have not had any spike in prices of international flight tickets at the moment, the only issue we have had and are still having is the spike in cost of flights due to the trapped funds; a serious problem which we have talked about several times and which we have made efforts to solve.
“What is happening at the moment is just flight diversion and that is between the airline and the regulatory body of that country. Many flights for instance between UK and South Africa have been diverted or re-routed due to the closure of Niger’s air space. “For Nigeria, there has been no hike in price. There may be in the coming days or weeks, but at the moment, the price of tickets have remained the same,” she said.
