Expensive flight tickets, low patronage unsettle travel agencies

Galloping inflation in the air transport sector and attendant hike in air tickets are unsettling the travel agencies and customers alike. The travel agents told The Guardian that apart from the reduction in patronage experienced since the beginning of the year, there is dim hope for the remaining months ahead.

Findings at the domestic airports in Lagos revealed that the average price for a one-way ticket for future flights is N150,000. But for today’s flight category, it costs N250,000 and more.

This finding is slightly higher than the recent report released by the National Bureau of Statistics’ August 2024 Transport Fare Watch, stating that Nigerian domestic flight prices increased by 25.51 per cent with the average cost for a single trip on designated routes reaching N123,700.14 in August 2024. Part of the report stated that “the fare increased by 56.56 per cent on an annual basis from N79,011.38 in August 2023.”

For Ijeoma Onuoha, who heads operations at Blue Pegasus Limited, fewer customers patronised the company for flight tickets this year compared to last year.
Onuoha stated that apart from the high cost of fares, which has greatly impacted traffic, flight delays, cancellations and poor service delivery have also compounded the woes of an average traveller.

She said: “Our corporate clients have sent in requests, which sadly are still unequalled to last year’s traffic. I must note that the corporate requests are due to our event planning retainership,” she said. Hoping for the best by October, CEO of Shalom Travels and Tours, Ezra Unanaojo, also confirmed that his customers decreased compared to the previous year.

“Literally, the high cost of flight tickets has affected patronage, and the truth is that because of the low patronage, I have had to face other businesses that I do.

“I had to drop down my website due to low patronage. Reading the news some time ago, I saw that flight rates may increase by 800 per cent. In fact, a strike is looming already,” he said. CEO of Keras Travel and Tours, Abisoye Abati, said that they got a lot of patronage from this year but not like the past.

“Nigerians are not travelling this year like they did last year because of an increase in airfares and others. The kind of people who patronise us this year are more of people who intend to relocate to another country because of the present situation of our country. One of the major challenges we face this year is basically the high rate of dollars. I mean the crazy exchange rate, and increase in cost of petrol, which have affected every business now in Nigeria,” Abati said.

President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Yinka Folami, told The Guardian that the aviation sector is not spared of the impact of the economy. Folami added that the economic situation has impacted the cost of tickets and capacity of regular Nigerian travellers, especially in terms of affordability.

“We want more regulation from the government. We want more support from the government. You can see that the minister and the business around him are eager to cause improvement in the aviation sector. They have our support and our love. We just want them to continue and keep us on regulations that will further strengthen the practice of the Nigerian travel agents,” the NANTA president said.