British Airways, Other Foreign Airlines Crash Airfares Further on Lagos-London Route
- Foreign airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and others have crashed their airfares further on the Lagos-London route
- The airlines crashed their ticket fares for as low as N677,000 following Air Peace's entrance into the route
- The airlines denied plots to push Air Peace out of the market via price slash but said the move is due to the naira’s gain against the dollar
Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.
Foreign airlines operating from Lagos to London have continued to slash their fares since Air Peace entered the route on March 30, 2024.
Airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, and others have crashed their fares on the route as competition gets together.
Source: Getty Images
The naira’s appreciation causes a drop in fares
In a previous report, Legit.ng reported that airfares from Nigeria to other countries had seen a significant drop as the naira appreciated against the US dollar and a more robust competition posed by the entrance of Air Peace on the route.
The naira has depreciated against the US dollar for over a year, leading the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to increase ticket prices.
The IATA rate for ticket sales in the country appreciated from about N1.800 per dollar a few months ago to N1,468 a few weeks ago and now to N1,261.
The drop led to the rapid crash in air tickets across several routes.
Air Peace alleges plot to push it out of the market
There have been insinuations by some stakeholders that the current crash in airfares is a plot to drive Air Peace out of the route and then continue to exploit Nigerians.
The Nigerian airline’s maiden flight to London on March 30, 2024, was fully booked as the company slashed its ticket prices for Nigerians.
According to reports, Air Peace pegged the price of its economy class at N1.2 million, leading to fierce competition on the route.
Air Peace said an economy-class return ticket costs N1.2 million, while a Business-Class Return Ticket costs N4 million. It also stated that Nigerians studying in the UK can have a 15% discount on the reduced economy-class tickets.
Other airlines crash ticket prices.
Responding to the Air Peace gesture, British Airways immediately slashed its one-way economy class from Lagos to London from N3 million to N1.7 million and Business Class from N11 million to N6.8 million.
Lufthansa’s one-way ticket for economy class from Lagos to London was slashed to N3 million from N9 million, Business Class to N2 million from N9 million, and economy class from N6.5 million to N2 million.
Virgin Atlantic reduced ticket prices for the economy class premium from N12 million to N1.5 million and for business class from N3 million to N6 million, respectively.
Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema said in a recent television interview that his airline had sold out the tickets for the Lagos to London flights until September 2024.
Further checks showed that in February 2024, the cost of economy class tickets from Lagos to London for airlines was about N2.5 million.
More airlines crash ticket prices
As of Wednesday, April 10, 2024, a one-way ticket on Egyptair reportedly dropped its economy class fares further to N858.620.
Air Peace London to Lagos now sells for N816.130, British Airways sells for N981.848, Virgin Atlantic sells for N1.1 million, and Royal Air Moroc sells for N569.422.
Others include RwandAir’s London-Lagos fares for N679.070, Ethiopian Airlines selling for N677,824, Turkish Airlines for N807.408, Air France sells N1.1, while KLM pegged its fares at N1.1 million.
The airlines have denied crashing their prices because of Air Peace, saying that the decision was due to the crash of the US dollar against the Nigerian currency.
Air passengers react as airlines quote new fares
The development is attributed to the hike in the prices of air tickets, with the Lagos-Abuja return flight costing over N400,000.
The current price represents a more than 300% rise in two years as a one-way ticker for the Lagos-Abuja flight, which was quoted at N50,000.
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Source: Legit.ng
