Aviation Crisis: Nigerians Find Cheaper Ways to Buy Tickets

• Nigerians are devising means of buying flight tickets as the country faces imminent aviation crisis
• According to reports, many Nigerians are flying to neighbouring countries from where they take connecting flights
• This is caused by the exorbitant cost of air tickets which the airlines have blamed on aviation fuel and high running costs

Many Nigerians are beginning to cut costs of flying following the exorbitant cost of air tickets and the boycott of the country’s airspace by some foreign airlines.

The Punch reports that some Nigerians are starting to fly to neighbouring countries to cut costs.

Nigerians lament as airfare skyrocket

Nigerians have been lamenting the increased cost of air tickets caused by the high cost of aviation fuel.

Read also

California set to ban fossil fuel cars by 2035

Some airlines hiked their fares to as high as 100 per cent citing the cost of running businesses.

The high ticket cost has worsened the plight of travellers, especially as foreign airlines have started to boycott Nigerian airspace due to the debt being owed them by the Nigerian government.

The Nigerian government reportedly owes foreign airlines about $600 million, which the airlines cannot repatriate to their foreign countries.

CBN cites forex scarcity in repatriating foreign airlines' fares

The Central Bank of Nigeria has cited the scarcity of forex for the non-repatriation of funds by foreign airlines.

Last week, Emirate Airlines halted its operations in Nigeria beginning September 1, 2022.

According to the airline, due to the ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria and has made enough efforts to initiate dialogue with the Nigerian authorities for urgent intervention and has not made any progress.

Nigeria is world’s most indebted country to foreign airlines as funds kept in CBN Hit $600 Million

Read also

List of African countries with the highest, cheapest flight tickets to US

Legit.ng reports that Nigeria may lose the patronage of foreign airlines as it becomes the worst indebted country to foreign airlines globally.

The raging controversy over funds trapped in the country may snowball into a stalemate as $600 million trapped in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria has become the highest owed by any country in the world.

According to the Tribune, as of March 2022, the trapped fund was $285 million.

Source: Legit.ng