A new report by the Airport Charges Report has revealed that Nigeria is among the countries with the highest airport taxes in Africa.
Nigeria sits at the eighth position with Niger, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Bangui, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo also making the list.
According to the report, airport taxes in the listed countries are as high as those in some European countries which had faced stiff resistance from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Niamey, Niger Republic which tops the list, charges passengers $162 on regional departure to African countries. This is followed by Monrovia, Liberia with $145; Guinea Bissau, $137; Dakar, Senegal $116; Douala, Cameroon $115; Bangui $111; Freetown, Sierra Leone $109; and Nigeria, $100.
International travelers at Bamako, Mali; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Cotonou, Benin Republic; and Kinshasa, Zaire pay $99; $91, $88, $77 respectively.
It further showed that in Accra, Ghana, it costs $77; N’djamena $68; Djibouti $67; Cairo 67; Lome, Togo $62; and Entebbe, Uganda is $57. Charges by other African nations are between $50 and $3.
Airports which charge the least, the report showed, are Maseru, Lesotho which charges the lowest airport tax at $3, followed by Tripoli, Libya $4; Lubombo, Eswatini $7; Khartoum, Sudan $8; Gaborone, Botswana $11; and Tunis, Tunisia $11.
In Central and West Africa, 10 out of 23 airports (almost half) charge more than $100. As such, the two regions represented only 20 per cent of the global traffic into and out of Africa. Most of the northern African airports, which represent 35 per cent of the traffic, charge less than $50.
The Central and West African airports had the highest passenger taxes and fees, which varied from $164.9 in Niamey to $171 in Ilha Do Sal.
The five most expensive airports in West Africa charge over $100. Passengers in North African airports enjoy the lower amounts. Cairo charges $67 as passenger taxes and fees, while Khartoum charges only $8.2.
