Nigerians are beginning to devise strategies, taking hard decisions that will enable them to procure cheaper international flights.
The PUNCH reports some Nigerian travellers as saying that they were beginning to fly through neighbouring airports in order to cut costs.
A businessman, Mr Joe Anakwe, said he recently moved to Ghana and flew from there to Dubai.
“Yes, it is cheaper, but it is also meant to have fewer hassles,” he said. Those countries do not have a dollar crisis as we do, and their flight costs are cheaper when compared with buying in naira,” he said.
Another Nigerian traveller, Charles Sawoe, noted that the forex challenges sometimes made the cost of flights higher by over 50 per cent in Nigeria.
“I have agents in Ghana and France. Those countries do not have issues with forex the way it is here. So, they buy tickets for me at cheaper rates. At times, I fly through Ghana, but sometimes I move through Lagos. But the most important thing for me is that I don’t normally buy tickets here the way I used to,” he said.
According to the president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, Susan Akporiaye, Nigerians had started flying from Accra, Ghana, to London, Canada and other frequently visited destinations.
The PUNCH reports in Akporiaye in a telephone interview as saying, “Nigerians are already flying from Ghana to other countries because the lower inventories of tickets are no longer available in Nigeria. People go to Accra because Accra still has the lowest inventory available.
“By the time all airlines restrict sales to only the highest inventories like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have done, then more people will move to Accra to fly,” she added.
Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria have since blocked all low ticket inventories on their websites, making it difficult for passengers to buy affordable tickets.
NANTA’s president said, “Yes it’s true because they get it cheaper that way, but you know even out of Nigeria, you get cheaper prices. It’s just that you have to issue the tickets out of Nigeria. For example, the restrictions on the lower fares happen just in Nigeria because of the forex crisis. It does not exist in Ghana, South Africa, London or the US. So, for instance, Virgin Atlantic is selling the highest economy at N1.7m for the Lagos-London-Lagos flight. You don’t even have to go to Accra even though Virgin Atlantic doesn’t fly from Accra. I’m just using that as an example. You don’t even have to go there to fly. All you have to do is get a travel agent in London who will see a lower fare of N500,000 plus, but I won’t see it. That N550,000 naira flight has been taken off for agents in Nigeria to issue. For agents in Nigeria, you can only issue the high one. So, I don’t even need to tell my customer to go to Accra or go to South Africa and fly, no. All I need to do is contact a colleague in London and he will get a cheaper fare. Once he gets it, I pay the person, he issues the ticket and my passenger can still fly from Lagos to London.
“So, yes, people are doing it but they really don’t have to. But then again, they forget that they also have to issue Nigeria to Accra and back except for people that live in Lagos and can go by road. But for us that live in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria, you have to issue tickets to Accra and back, so at the end of the day, what are you saving?
“Rather than fly to other West African countries, Nigerians aiming to travel can log in to the airline’s websites. Lower fares are on their websites and since they’re not based in Nigeria, payment will be made in the currency of the country, so that’s another way we can get lower fares as their website is domiciled in their countries.
“The only reason why they are not selling lower fares here is that they don’t want it to be sold in naira because their money is trapped here. So, as much as they can, they make the ones that we can sell in naira higher and then through their websites you can get lower ones, but you will pay in the currency of the country. They’re trying to get back some of their forex that is stuck in Nigeria so that it doesn’t keep increasing exponentially.
“They are business people and a lot of the things they do is in dollars. They pay FAAN in dollars, buy fuel in dollars, service their aircraft in dollars and meanwhile, a lot of the money is trapped here in naira. Even though it is in their accounts and not in the hands of the government, it’s of no use to them in naira. The money will only be of use to them if it is in dollars and that is where the problem is. We don’t have forex, so because of the dollar shortage, the government can’t convert their money for them. So, they are looking for a way to make sure that they get some things back. So, the person that is willing to pay N1.7m will pay in naira, so they’ll go and buy from the black market. But for those lower ones now, they cannot carry their money and go and buy from the black market, which will be a huge loss.
“The Nigerian government does not allow trade in any other currency except the naira but trade on the website of an airline is not considered illegitimate in Nigeria because that website is not domiciled here. So, you can’t say that they are selling dollars in Nigeria; it’s only when you go to their office physically or through a travel agency and you’re paying in dollars that they can have issues with the Nigerian government. On their websites, they can do anything they want to do.”
