Indications have emerged that soaring domestic air fares may soon crash
by 33 per cent from the present average of N30,000 per hour flight to
N20,000 following the return of some local airlines to business.
Wreckage of the crashed Dana plane at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos... on Sunday.
Dana Air, which stopped operations seven months ago after the tragic
crash of June 3, 2012, resumed operations on Friday with fare as low as
N14,400 for a Lagos-Abuja flight. The airline offered N11,000 fare for
passengers who booked online.
Chanchangi Airlines also returned to business three weeks ago, selling its one-hour flight ticket at N25,000.
First Nation, which also stopped flight operations a few months ago, is due to return next month.
The suspension of flights by Dana Air, First Nation and Air Nigeria last
year forced air fare to increase from over N20,000 to over N30,000 due
to shortage of aircraft.
Arik Air, Aero Nigeria and IRS airlines had been the major airlines
plying the domestic routes until last December when Medview Airlines, a
new carrier, entered the market. Medview currently sells its one-hour
ticket for N28,000 on the average.
Some industry analysts have also predicted that air fare will drop to between N18,000 and N22,000 within the next few months.
According to them, the coming of Dana and Medview has led to a capacity
increase in terms of the number of available aircraft seats.
Comments