Flight tickets set to skyrocket as cost of JetA1 fuel peaks at ₦1,530/litre

Airline Passengers are currently bracing up for a fresh ticket hike as the price of JetA1 fuel has hit an all-time high of ₦1,530 per litre.

As of yesterday, the cost of the commodity had peaked at ₦1,530 in Kano, while the price had hit ₦1,480 in Lagos and ₦1,522 in Abuja and Port Harcourt.

An NBS report had revealed that the prices of aviation tickets surged by 95.01% in 2022 due to the scarcity of aviation fuel. The NBS Transport Fare Watch also revealed that the costs of air travel surged by 11.01% to ₦81,334.05 in November 2023, compared to ₦73,270.27 in November 2022.

The cost of aviation fuel as at February 2022 was around ₦250 per litre, but the price had shot up to ₦900 per litre by December 2023 and now at ₦1,530 within two months.

As of December 2023, the Air Peace booking portals had fixed outbound and inbound one-way tickets from Lagos to Abuja at between ₦100,300 to ₦162,000, a sharp increase from the former ₦55,000 to ₦65,000 ticket prices.

Similarly, a ticket in the economy flexible category from Lagos to Enugu was fixed at ₦100,300 while Business class tickets within the same routes hovered between ₦250,000 and ₦300,000.

Confirming the development, an operator in the aviation industry and the Chief Operating Officer of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Osita Okonkwo noted that the rising cost of forex has worsened the plight of the operations in the industry.

Okonkwo also revealed that some of the privately managed airports like Asaba have also topped their charges thus adding to the burdens of Airline operators.

“On a 50-seater plane for instance, if you fly into Asaba by 7:05 pm, it will cost you ₦500,000 extra. They will tell you they close by 7 pm and if you are flying beyond 7:05 pm, you pay ₦500,000 per hour. if you are operating beyond 8pm, that is ₦1m.

“How will the operators break even when 90 per cent of our inputs is in dollars and everybody is increasing charges. Fuel today is ₦1,300 per litre,” he said.