The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has renewed its opposition to the practice of dollar-only ticket sales and city sales by some foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

NANTA specifically said that city sales contravenes the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) 2023, but lauded Air France-KLM for appointing a Nigerian firm as its General Sales Agent (GSA), while Etihad Airways, which is billed to return to Nigeria in the coming weeks, had also agreed to do the same.

President of NANTA, Dr Yinka Folami, in an interview with The Guardian yesterday in Lagos, declared that such practices are anti-competitive and inimical to the growth of the local travel trade.

Folami, however, commended the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for its recent enforcement efforts against foreign airlines operating sales outlets in cities, saying several carriers had begun dismantling such structures in response to the regulator’s directives.

He stated that while the association recognised the right of some foreign airlines to operate under agreements that permit dollar transactions, there was no longer sufficient justification for airlines to exclude the naira from ticket sales in Nigeria.

Folami said the stability of the naira, improved foreign exchange liquidity and greater transparency in the remittance process had significantly changed the economic circumstances that previously informed the practice.

According to him, only about three foreign airlines currently engage in dollar-only ticket sales out of more than 30 airlines operating into and out of Nigeria, indicating just 10 per cent, thereby making it difficult to justify the continued practice.

He said: “Naira is a sovereign currency; it’s our naira, and that’s what it is; therefore, it should denominate our transactions. So, when you conduct your trade in Nigeria, at the total exclusion of naira, we just think it is unfair.

“We don’t even want to say it is unacceptable. We want to appeal to these trade partners that it is unfair, because it is not something that you will permit in your own country. It is not something that anybody is happy about.”

Folami stressed that NANTA’s objection was not aimed at creating confrontation with foreign airlines or the government, but at ensuring greater inclusion and stability in Nigeria’s aviation and travel market.