Air transport fares are set to increase in the country again as operators are proposing a 25 percent fuel surcharge.
If the proposal sails through, it will be the second time air transport fares will be increased across airlines this year.
The proposed increase is contained in a letter by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), seeking its approval.
The increase, they said, will help to cushion the effect of a continuous hike in the price of Jet A-1 (aviation fuel) on the operations of airlines in the country.
In the letter signed by AON president, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, addressed to the director general of NCAA and dated July 18, 2022, AON indicated that apart from the “crippling effect” of the intermittent shortages of Jet A-1, the price has risen from N200 per litre in February 2022 to over N780 today.
The increment, it said, had consequently shot up the operational cost of airlines by over 130 per cent, even as the airlines were unable to increase fares; and also suffered from the challenge of sourcing foreign exchange to conduct operations due to biting scarcity.
“In order to forestall a backlash and total shutdown of the system, airlines are hoping to resort to an introduction of a fuel surcharge of between 25% and 40% of NUC as a way of offsetting the additional burden brought about by increased fuel cost bearing in mind that jet fuel accounts for about 40% of total operational expenses,” AON stated.
To this end, the airline operators, among others want the NCAA to cause a review of the decision that airlines are required to obtain approval for an initial three months before implementation of a fuel surcharge; waiver of demand that airlines pay an additional 5 per cent on the fuel surcharge entirely separate from the 5 per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).”
The operators explained that unless the charge was removed, it meant that whatever the airlines collected as fuel surcharge to cushion the effect of high fuel price would be taken away once again by the NCAA.
