FCCPC disagrees with Air Peace, says it costs N4m to fill Boeing 737-500

Contrary to claims by Air Peace that it costs them N7 million to fuel their aircraft for a one-hour flight, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has stated that a typical Boeing 737-500 flown by Air Peace takes N4 million to fill a tank with 4,500 liters of Jet A1 fuel.

The commission asserted that the airline, with a full capacity of 120 passengers, earns about N24 million on a one-hour flight, with tickets sold at the current average of N200,000.

FCCPC, in a statement signed by the Director of Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, frowned upon the proposal by the airline to increase airfares to N500,000, especially when another airline is reducing fares to N80,000. The statement also noted that the recent action by a competitor has led some petitioners to question whether the fuel Air Peace uses is being imported from the United States at a higher cost.

They described the recent outburst by Air Peace as a calculated attempt to obfuscate the issues and distract the Commission from the ongoing inquiry into alleged exploitative ticket pricing, among other potential violations of consumers’ rights.

The commission stated that the airline’s assertion that only the aviation regulatory agency could inquire into its affairs betrays its understanding of both the legal and moral pillars of its operating environment, emphasizing that passengers are consumers of the services, and their rights are inalienable and guaranteed under the FCCP Act. This is the basis for the FCCPC’s intervention.

The statement continued, “As stipulated in Section 17(e) of the FCCPA 2018, the FCCPC is mandated to carry out inquiries considered necessary or desirable in connection with any matter falling within the purview of the Act. Furthermore, Section 127(1)(a) empowers the FCCPC to ensure that pricing practices across all sectors, including aviation, are fair, competitive, and non-exploitative.”

The inquiry into Air Peace’s pricing practices stems from allegations of unjustified fare increases on advance bookings for certain domestic routes, lack of transparency in pricing structures, and practices that potentially contravene consumer rights and fair competition principles.

The statement highlighted other petitions before the Commission, including accusations that Air Peace is instigating other airlines to hike fares in the local aviation industry.

Additionally, some petitioners accused Air Peace of canceling flights arbitrarily without care or compensation for passengers. They noted that, on November 29, the domestic wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport witnessed a rampage by irate passengers of Air Peace at 10 PM following a more-than-four-hour delay on the Abuja-Lagos service, threatening public peace.

“It took the intervention of a combined team of security agents to restore normalcy that night at the nation’s premium international gateway.”

“Passengers have also complained that when they sought to utilize their tickets on another day after suffering untold inconveniences due to flight delays or cancellations, they were asked and forced to pay a 50% surcharge.”

The commission stated that these are some of the weighty issues it is investigating with a view to ensuring that Nigerian passengers are not exploited unduly through price-fixing and gouging.

The commission reiterated that no amount of blackmail or cowboy tactics by the airline can stop the Commission from the ongoing thorough investigation of the allegations against Air Peace, with a view to taking the appropriate action in accordance with the provisions of the FCCPA.