The Federal Government, through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has announced ongoing efforts to tackle the high cost of airfares for both domestic and international travel, while also enhancing airport safety and security. Keyamo made this announcement during the Ministerial Press Briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
Addressing the issue, Keyamo highlighted several key factors contributing to the steep fare prices, including limited access to affordable aircraft leasing, foreign airlines’ trapped funds, and high airport taxes.
He pointed out that Nigerian airlines face challenges in leasing aircraft at competitive rates, often leading them to resort to expensive leasing options or the outright purchase of aircraft, which in turn increases ticket prices. “We have domestic and international tickets. The challenge with domestic tickets is that we don’t have access to lease aircraft at lower costs.
This forces us to go for the more expensive leasing options or even buy aircraft. We are addressing this issue, and we expect results soon through the Cape Town Convention and the Dublin Conference we are attending. Deals are on the way, so we should see improvements soon,” he said.
Keyamo also mentioned ongoing discussions between the government and foreign airlines to reduce the cost of airfares. He further revealed that foreign airlines had been deliberately inflating ticket prices for Nigerian travelers due to uncertainties around repatriating their earnings.
According to him, the airlines were setting high ticket prices because of concerns that currency depreciation might erode the value of their earnings before they could convert them into dollars.
