The many sins of British Airways, others.

IN the aviation industry in Nigeria, there is a common knowledge that foreign airlines always foist arbitrary  fares on Nigerians. They know Nigerians travel a lot and, generally, do not question fares they are asked to pay.

Perhaps this informs the relatively high fares they are made to pay for international travels, which many consider highest in the world. This is partly the reason the big airlines try to outwit themselves to dominate the Nigerian market.

Even within the sub-region, passengers from Nigeria pay high fares to other parts of the world. For instance, where it costs a Nigerian $9846.19 to buy British Airways’ first class return ticket to London Heathrow, a distance of 5001km from Lagos, for a flight not more than five hours 55mins, his counterpart in Ghana pays far less, $4,904.14 for a similar ticket for a flight that is an hour more, and longer journey of 5096.79km.

Aviation minister, Stella Oduah-Ogiewmonyi

It is the same situation with other foreign airlines flying into the country. British Airways (BA) in its First Class, charges on Lagos-London-Lagos N1,365,998, while the fare for Accra-London-Accra for same ticket is N773,798. Similarly, in the Upper Club Class, next to First Class, the airline charges on N918,234 on Lagos-London-Lagos, and N776,223 on Abuja-London-Abuja, while same ticket on Accra-London-Accra is N481,498.

Similarly, Virgin Atlantic Airways’ fare in its Upper Class, highest in the airline is N821,000 on Lagos-London-Lagos, while the same ticket for Accra-London-Accra is N385,000. For Lufthansa Airlines, its First Class ticket for Lagos-Frankfurt-Lagos is N798,559.30, while Accra-Frankfurt-Accra for same ticket is N451,040.30. In the same vein, while KLM charges N638,365.30 for its highest class on Lagos-Amsterdam-Lagos route, same ticket goes for N485,761 on Accra-Amsterdam-Accra.

Emirates’ Business Class ticket goes for N471,540 for Lagos-Dubai-Lagos, while same ticket goes for N668,957.30 on Accra-Dubai-Accra. It is clear from these figures that only Emirates reflects the difference in distance between Lagos-Dubai and Accra-Dubai.

Therefore, you now wonder how the airlines arrive at the fares they charge. The situation is even worse when the fares charged Nigerians are juxtaposed with what passengers pay in other parts of the world, to the extent that an airline passenger travelling from Lagos to London, for instance, pays more for an economy ticket than his counterpart would pay for a Business Class ticket from London to Chicago, about eight hours flight. Therefore, where the Nigerians passenger pays almost $2,000 for an economy ticket for less than six hours flight to London, his counterpart is paying less than $500 from London to Chicago for about eight hours.

Consequently, travellers in the country have always cried foul over what they perceive as exploitative fare regime by foreign airlines, but the federal government now appears to be saying enough is enough. Beyond the issue of fares is the general poor service that is the hallmark of treatment meted out to Nigerians travellers.

Poor service ranges from the pitch size of seats in the aircraft (legroom); the type of aircraft deployed on Nigerian routes by foreign airlines in the country and quality of food served on board. These do not in anyway justify the high fares Nigerians pay to travel. Government had to intervene a few years ago to compel one of the foreign airlines to change the kind of aircraft deployed on the Lagos-U.S, route because of persistent complaints by Nigerians about the discomfort in the aircraft.

What has served as a wake up call for government is the muscling out of Arik Air from London Heathrow through the politics of slot allocation. In retaliating the treatment meted out on Arik in London, the government has not only slashed British Airways weekly frequencies from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, from seven to three, it has also gone ahead to ask for a dismantling of the regional inbalance in fares in such a way that it reflects what is charged for equidistant destinations within West Africa.

Although this position was one of the fallouts of ongoing negotiation between the federal government and its British counterparts on the current face-off between the Nigerian government and British Airways over Arik Air’s treatment in London, Vanguard learnt that it will also apply to other foreign airlines operating in the country. “The Nigerian government is still very concerned about the regional price disparity. We still strongly believe that this regional imbalance should be dismantled. In other words, BA should offer the same or similar fares from Nigeria to the UK as in any other equidistant destination within West Africa,” Special Adviser, Media to Aviation Minister, Mr. Joe Obi, said in a statement issued on behalf of his boss, Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiewmonyi, shortly after one of the sessions with the British negotiators.

Although government appears to be succeeding on its request, as the British authorities have requested to be given an opportunity to carry out an independent study of the regional pricing disparity in the UK\Nigerian aviation market, it is unclear how far government could go in ensuring that its stance was holistic, that is, applying to what Nigerians pay to all other destinations across the world.

Aviation expert and former spokesman of defunct Nigeria Airways, Mr Chris Aligbe, said in as much as government should be commended for asking for a review of fares charged Nigerians to tally with what passengers pay for a similar distance to London from their countries in West Africa, it might be difficult to make much progress with regards to flights originating from destinations outside the country, citing the volume of traffic, environmental and other factors in those territories. Aligbe said: “What the Ministry of Aviation has done is to ensure that foreign airlines offer the same or similar fares as is the case in any other equidistant destination in West Africa, and I think this is commendable. But you don’t compare apple with banana. There are factors that affect the calculation of fares, such as the volume of traffic and environmental factors. This may make it very difficult for same principle to apply to flights originating in Europe and America and other parts of the world.”

Yet another expert, Olu Ohunayo, believes government had started well in reversing what had been years of exploitation of Nigerians by foreign airlines. He said government’s handling of British Airways would send the right signals to other airlines to sit up or they would have drastic actions taken against them too. Ohunayo said: “If what is happening on the London route is as bad as we have been experiencing, even with the high level competition on that route, you can now imagine what goes on in other routes that are not as busy as London route. Let the world know that, for once, we can take a position and stand by it.” For him, the days of high fares and poor service should be over by the time government is through with the British carriers.

Recouping investments

Therefore, to recoup their investments, the cost is built into the fares charged passengers. Other countries in the world move against double-entry, which has become the norm in Nigeria, because that remains one far-reaching way of protecting their domestic carriers and entire aviation industry from the vagaries of competition. British Airways flies into Lagos and Abuja.

Similarly; Lufthansa Airlines flies into Lagos and Port Harcourt. The fact remains that the home governments of these airlines will never allow any Nigerian carrier to fly into more than one entry point in their countries. The British government will never allow Arik, for instance, to fly into Heathrow and Gatwick simultaneously.

However, stakeholders believe that the present Aviation Minister has started well in the struggle to whittle down the domination of the nation’s aviation industry by foreign airlines. They also contend that this will help in government’s efforts to drive the economy through aviation and reduce considerably the capital flight through the sector.

FARES COMPARISON

British Airways (BA) First Class
Lagos-London-Lagos N1,365,998.    Accra-London-Accra N773,798.

Upper Club Class,
Lagos-London-Lagos  N918,234
Abuja-London-Abuja, N776,223     Accra-London-Accra     N481,498

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class
Lagos-London-Lagos N821,000       Accra-London-Accra N385,000.

Lufthansa Airlines First Class
Lagos-Frankfurt-Lagos  N798,559.30  Accra-Frankfurt-Accra N451,040.30.

KLM First Class
Lagos-Amsterdam-Lagos N638,365.30  Accra-Amsterdam-Accra.N485,761

Emirates’ Business Class
Lagos-Dubai-Lagos  N471,540                    Accra-Dubai-Accra.N668,957.30