There seemed to be an orchestrated move by foreign airlines to choke Nigerian Indegenous carrier, Air Peace airline, out of the London Route, days after it had launched its operating flights along that international corridor.
To compete with Air Peace, which recently commenced flying on the route, foreign airlines have further slashed their airfares on the Lagos-London route.
Air Peace launched direct flights from Lagos to London on March 30, charging N1.2 million for a round-trip economy ticket on a route where other airlines were charging up to N3 million.
But shortly after the launch, foreign airlines reduced their round-trip economy ticket prices to an average of ₦1.4 million last week as a result of the Nigerian airline’s move, which analysts and stakeholders had predicted.
As of Wednesday, April 10, checks revealed that a few international airlines have further reduced their costs to an average of ₦841,732 with most flights’ rates, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s exchange rate of N1246/$1, showed downward trend.
Egyptair has further reduced the price of its economy ticket from Lagos to London to ($470) ₦585,620; Virgin Atlantic ($927.99) ₦1.1m; Royal Air Morocco ($456.99) ₦569,422; British Airways ($787.99) ₦981, 848 and Air Peace London ($655) ₦816, 130 are the current prices for flights to Lagos.
RwandAir has pegged airfare to ($545.35) ₦679,070; Ethiopian Air ($543.84) ₦677, 824; Turkish Airlines ($647.84) ₦807, 408; Air France London ($915.99) ₦1.1m while KLM pegged its price to ($927.84) ₦1.1m.
This development has meant that as of the first week of April this year, a one-way ticket from Lagos-London cost between ₦1.03m and ₦1.3m despite the exchange rates being as high as ₦1,250 per dollar.
The Daily Crucible reports that earlier, the Chairman of Nigerian indigenous carrier Air Peace, Allen Onyema cried out regarding what he alleged as conspiracy among foreign carriers operating the Nigeria-UK route to choke his airline out after it had adjusted its fare downward.
Onyema claimed that these carriers are deliberately undervaluing airfares on the route as part of a scheme to push Air Peace to operate at a loss and thereby shove it out of international operations.
He disclosed this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, even as he hinted at the existence of an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines.
According to him, these airlines subtly helped by their home governments, are employing lower pricing strategies with the aim of forcing Air Peace off the Nigeria-London route.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country(Nigeria) will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira. We are being deliberately frustrated in all ways,” he said, citing ground handling and space allocation difficulties at Gatwick Airport in the last couple of days.
“It’s a very devilish conspiracy. All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350. Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody.
“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again.”
As a counterforce, Onyema urged other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly hitherto exercised by foreign carriers operating into the four major gateway airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.
“I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aero politics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price,” he said.
Onyema expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu and Minister Keyamo for being “solidly behind” Air Peace even as the airline navigates the politics side of operating to London.
