Lagos-London Ticket Now N569k as International Airlines Slash Prices to Compete With Air Peace
- International airlines have begun slashing their Lagos to London airfare to less than N1 million
- This occurred after Air Peace launched direct flights from Lagos to London, charging N1.2 million for a round-trip economy ticket
- The chairman of Air Peace earlier claimed the foreign airlines' action was geared toward driving him out of international operations
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
Foreign airlines have further reduced their fares to compete with Air Peace, which recently started operating flights on the Lagos-London route.
Source: Getty Images
On March 30, Air Peace launched direct flights from Lagos to London, charging N1.2 million for a round-trip economy ticket on a route where other airlines were charging up to N3 million.
In response, foreign airlines slashed their prices to an average of ₦1.4 million for a round-trip economy ticket last week due to the Nigerian airline's action.
Airlines reduce prices further
Investigations conducted on Wednesday, April 10, revealed that a few international airlines have reduced their costs to an average of ₦841,732.
According to Channels TV, Egypt Air has further reduced the price of its Lagos-London economy ticket to ($470) ₦585,620, based on price checks conducted as of Wednesday, at the Central Bank of Nigeria's exchange rate of N1246/$1.
Also, Air Peace London flight costs $655 ₦816, 130 to Lagos; British Airways costs $787.99 ₦981, 848; Virgin Atlantic costs $927.99 ₦1.1 million; and Royal Air Moroc costs $456.99 ₦569,422.
Additionally, the price of airfare has been set by RwandAir at ($545.35) ₦679,070, Ethiopian Air at ($543.84) ₦677,824, Turkish Airlines at ($647.84) ₦807, 408, Air France London at ($915.99) ₦1.1 million, and KLM at ($927.84) ₦1.1 million.
The event comes after the airlines slashed their prices from N3.5 million between January and February 2024 to an average of N1.4 million last week.
Compared to the latter part of last year and the beginning of this year, Wednesday's ticket costs were considerably less. At a conversion rate of ₦907 per dollar in July of last year, a one-way economy ticket from Lagos to London cost ₦2.7 million.
Even with the higher exchange rate of ₦1,250 per dollar, a one-way ticket cost between ₦1.03 million and ₦1.3 million in the first week of April this year.
Some experts had predicted that the foreign airlines would not stand by and let Air Peace take over most flights on the route, leading to the "price war" that broke out after Air Peace started operating.
However, Allen Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace, claimed foreign airlines are planning to drive him out of international operations by bringing down ticket prices on the route.
Onyema, a guest on Politics Today on Channels Television, alleged that international airlines have an unwritten agreement to use lower prices to force Air Peace off the Nigeria-London route.
He said:
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, ten times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira.”
Air Peace speaks on abandonment of passengers
Legit.ng also reported that Air Peace denied reports that it abandoned its passengers at Gatwick Airport, London and shut the counters before closing time because the aircraft was overbooked on its first flight from London to Lagos on April 8, 2024.
The airline said in a statement that a video on social media which claimed it abandoned passengers was a plot to tarnish its image. It described the allegations as untrue.
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Source: Legit.ng
