Following complaints of high airfares for international travel by Nigerians, major foreign airlines have listened to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) directive to open their lower inventory tickets that have been locked for several months.
Nigerians have been made to pay higher fares for international trips than other African countries because only higher inventory tickets were open in Nigeria, while cheaper inventories were blocked.
The regulatory authority, NCAA, had expressed displeasure over foreign airlines’ discriminatory practices against Nigerian travellers and set up a three-day meeting with airlines operating the Nigerian route.
Our correspondence reports that among those in the meeting were representatives of the NCAA, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), with a representation from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of the foreign airlines.
Horatius Egua, who chaired the meeting, charged all foreign airlines to cut down their ticket costs and unlock lower inventory tickets to Nigerians and those travelling abroad from the country.
The authority considered fares charged in Africa’s largest economy discriminatory compared to regional flight tickets by the same airlines.
Following the meeting, many foreign airlines opened their lower inventory tickets for Nigerian travellers. The airlines have unblocked their lower inventory tickets: Lufthansa, KLM, Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways, Royal Air Mar, RwandAir, and Turkish Airlines.
