In recent times, Nigerians have had to suspend their travel plans to the United States and Europe as a result of the increase in fares which has tripled as a result of the high exchange rate for ticket pricing.

BusinessDay’s investigations show that an economy class ticket from Lagos to London and Lagos to France and most European countries which cost around N1.5 million a month ago, now cost an average of N1.9 million to N2.2 million depending airline.

Also, an economy class ticket from Lagos to the United States which cost about N1.7 million a month ago is currently priced between N2.2 million and N2. 6million.

The cost of airfares from Nigeria to various destinations has seen a sharp rise since the exchange rate for ticket pricing hit over N760/$,

The development came a few days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) floated the naira and directed commercial banks to sell foreign exchange at market-determined rates.

The CBN said all forex windows should be collapsed into the Investors &Exporters Window.

Days after the decision, the exchange rate has since fluctuated on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) platform from 663.04/$ to now N770/$.

Nigerian travellers have quickly had to respond to the increase by suspending their travel plans to Europe and the United States.

“Never have tickets been sold so expensive in Nigeria before. How can I buy a Lagos to London ticket for over N2 million? This is more than just a rise. It is exorbitant and I’m sure the average traveller can’t afford this at this time when we have an economic downturn,” Philip Onuh told BusinessDay.

Onuh said he had plans to visit his family next month in New York but he has had to suspend his travel plans as a result of the rise in tickets.

“I could not afford to pay tickets for my family to come over to Nigeria for summer because airlines had blocked all their low ticket prices on their websites, making the cost of fares high. So I planned to go and see them instead to reduce the expenditure on travel. However, to my greatest surprise, when I was ready to book my ticket, I found out tickets had again risen to N2.4 million in the United States. So I just have to suspend plans to travel for now,” he explained.

John Effiong, another traveller told BusinessDay that he had plans to travel to France with his family during his annual leave in two months’ time but had to cancel the plans because he could not afford the new cost for airfares.

Effiong however said he would now be travelling to Egypt as an alternative because the cost of travelling to Egypt is about three times lower than what he would have spent on the cost of travel to France.

“My travel agent had advised that Egypt can be another option instead of suspending our travel plans because there are still low fares to the North African country and its visa policy is quite flexible.

“With Schengen, UK, US or Canada visa, people can travel to Egypt and get their visa on arrival. My family members all have Schengen visas and this just makes things easy for us. We get to spend less on travel and ease of visa makes it more attractive,” he said.

Since last year, foreign airlines operating in Nigeria blocked low ticket inventories (cheap tickets), leaving high inventories (costly tickets) to be sold in naira only, while the low ticket inventories on most airlines’ websites could only be bought with dollar cards only.


This was in a bid to cushion the effect of their trapped funds in Nigeria which kept rising.

While airlines gradually opened up low ticket inventories which they had blocked, as the Central Bank of Nigeria released their trapped funds in trickles, BusinessDay’s investigations show that high ticket inventories were still more on the websites, making ticket prices high.

Susan Akporiaye, the President of the National Association of Travel Agents of Nigeria, (NANTA) told BusinessDay that the reduction in summer travels has been there since the restriction of inventories on the airlines’ website.

Akporiaye however noted that the new dollar rate policy has worsened the situation because ticket prices are very high that even corporate travels are now
affected.

“This is not how summer usually is. We had this same experience last year summer because of the inventory restrictions. Already, the inventories have still not been released yet. So, even with the new dollar rate unification, there is no difference and it is even worse because the highest economy class ticket for Lagos to the United States when the exchange rate was about N460 to a dollar was N1.9million but now at over N760 to a dollar, ticket prices are between N2.5million to N3.2million.

“This is why we are talking to the airlines. The rate of exchange is very high now. What airlines can do so they don’t punish passengers is to release the lower fares. If the lower fares are released, at least people will be able to get tickets of N700,000,” the NANTA president said.

She said the new exchange rate policy has further reduced ticket sales.

“Before now, it was only on the naira platform that we had the highest fares but on the dollar platform, the lower fares were still there. So people could just go to the black market and buy dollars. But now, everyone is feeling it.

“So, there is not much difference between buying tickets in dollars and buying tickets in naira anymore. The policy has unified the whole system. So, whether you buy the tickets in dollars or in naira, there is no difference. The only thing that the airlines have done to help the travel agency community is that they have given us a dollar platform too. So people don’t have to go online anymore. We can also service them,” Akporiaye said.

She said the travel agents depended on corporates before now because they could afford the high ticket costs but now, the corporates are also cancelling their travel plans.

Speaking on travels to other African countries, the NANTA president said
Nigerians are now beginning to open their minds to exploring destinations in Africa.

“People are still travelling to South Africa despite the visa issues and the visa online platform that has been opened up is helping too so that people can just do their online applications and travel.

“Other African countries opening up are Namibia, Kenya and Botswana. Egypt had been open since Dubai suspended flights into Nigeria. The Egyptians were very smart. They introduced some new innovations in their visa policy which really helped because Egypt was an alternative for Nigerians but the visa was the problem because people had to wait for almost three months for their visas. But this is no longer the case anymore.

“Egypt now has visa on arrival for people that have either a Schengen, UK, US or Canada visa. If you have any of these visas, no need to go to the embassy. Just jump on the plane and you get your visa-on-arrival which is 50 dollars. This has helped a lot. Some travellers travelling to the US, now stop over at Cairo for a few days just to have fun, then proceed to the US because of the ease of visa on arrival,” she explained.

She also mentioned that Rwanda is also very easy for Nigerians because it doesn’t require a visa, adding that more Nigeria has seized this opportunity to do business and go on holidays in Rwanda.

She said most African airlines still sell lower ticket fares.

https://businessday.ng/news/article/nigerians-suspend-travel-plans-to-us-europe-as-economy-tickets-hit-n2-2m/

Nigeria really hard!

Renewed hopelessness

The lord is our strength. Nigerians go still pay to Japa

This is nothing but just mega exploitation, if you need to buy a return Ticket now in Europe for flights between major european cities and Lagos, you can still get a Ticket of 1000 Euros or lesser which is lesser than 1M naira at black market rates.Why the exorbitant Ticket fee in Nigeria?

Renewed hope is less than one month old

8 more years to go

We are all in this together

This is just the beginning

No more japa

We must enjoy the APC together

Renewed Shege

Money wey u fit use run business for naija.

No wonder people dey sell car, house, property to japa
When ticket is almost 2.5 mill

Exaggerated numbers for economy flights
Use several websites to check the price
2k dollars is less than 2million naira

Agbado miscreants.. go say BAT regime go favor dem

Yankee101:
Exaggerated numbers for economy flights
Use several websites to check the price
2k dollars is less than 2million naira

It's not o. The prices of flight tickets are something else now.

This is not entirely true, I checked flight for last week and even checked today you can get economy for as low as 400k to London. Maybe the person was using an agent, though it also depends on time, like she say within two months, I was even checking for two months ahead and I was getting the cheapest at 400k naira. The thing is that if you want the fastest with very minimal lay over time then it would go up to 1m +. I wouldn't check directly from the airline if It were me.

tensazangetsu20:


It's not o. The prices of flight tickets are something else now.

I checked online and found flights for $1600 to Heathrow, either from Abuja or Lagos

JFK was around $3500 and that’s for flying on short notice

If you plan your trip ahead you’ll get cheaper

Windblown2much:
Nigeria really hard!

As in ehn, really terrible.

It is well....

Guys since we're way more than 3M here on NL, is about time we converge and sponsor every single person outta this country.

THE TICKET WILL FAVOUR ME AND MY FAMILY

TBforgive:
Guys since we're way more than 3M here on NL, is about time we converge and sponsor every single person outta this country.

E go work ooh,

we dey serious about the thing Shaa...

Yankee101:


I checked online and found flights for $1600 to Heathrow, either from Abuja or Lagos

JFK was around $3500 and that’s for flying on short notice

If you plan your trip ahead you’ll get cheaper

How much does that come out to for a family of 4?

On tickets alone. When you're not going to Sydney.

The last sentence has always been the case. The idea that one can't go on an impromptu trip at a moment's notice without taking a major haircut is a bummer.

We'll pay anyway. No alternative and all.

-Lord

TBforgive:
Guys since we're way more than 3M here on NL, is about time we converge and sponsor every single person outta this country.

how do you bold your signature?

FadaGJ:
how do you bold your signature?

It's pretty easy...the thing is; you've to write and bold the words in reply box then copy and paste to signature box.

To bold tap that

TBforgive:


It's pretty easy...the thing is; you've to write and bold the words in reply box then copy and paste to signature box.

To bold tap that

thanks 👍

Hmm...

It’s summer/fall prices, vacation time and school resumption prices

You can get London for $500 and jfk for $1200 after this rush season

For regular travelers the truth is the prices haven’t changed. It was a long time ago they were still using CBN rates until CBN refused to pay them their money and Dubai visas and flights were cancelled and they started using black market rates since. And black market exchange rates haven’t really changed much for over a year

LordAdam16:


How much does that come out to for a family of 4?

On tickets alone. When you're not going to Sydney.

The last sentence has always been the case. The idea that one can't go on an impromptu trip at a moment's notice without taking a major haircut is a bummer.

We'll pay anyway. No alternative and all.

-Lord

Yankee101:
It’s summer/fall prices, vacation time and school resumption prices

You can get London for $500 and jfk for $1200 after this rush season

For regular travelers the truth is the prices haven’t changed. It was a long time ago they were still using CBN rates until CBN refused to pay them their money and Dubai visas and flights were cancelled and they started using black market rates since. And black market exchange rates haven’t really changed much for over a year

You are sidestepping the core issue.

$3500 for Economy is excessive for LOS-JFK; summer and other heavy traffic windows notwithstanding.

The IATA were using 663. They recently updated to 770 or thereabout.

https://nairametrics.com/2023/06/21/international-airlines-to-price-tickets-at-n770-1-up-from-n663-1/

-Lord

3500 in summer isn’t much, I’ve travelled that route multiple times at different seasons


In the same flight someone paid 1500 for a similar seat months ago

If you need to move a family on short notice without planning no be emergency be that. Just plan your trip. Also on the same trip you can get a drastic reduction actually if you wait to book the same day and you’re lucky the flight isn’t full. If you’re a frequent flyer you’ll understand the fluctuations

LordAdam16:


You are sidestepping the core issue.

$3500 for Economy is excessive for LOS-JFK; summer and other heavy traffic windows notwithstanding.

The IATA were using 663. They recently updated to 770 or thereabout.

https://nairametrics.com/2023/06/21/international-airlines-to-price-tickets-at-n770-1-up-from-n663-1/

-Lord

Yankee101:
3500 in summer isn’t much, I’ve travelled that route multiple times at different seasons


In the same flight someone paid 1500 for a similar seat months ago

If you need to move a family on short notice without planning no be emergency be that. Just plan your trip. Also on the same trip you can get a drastic reduction actually if you wait to book the same day and you’re lucky the flight isn’t full. If you’re a frequent flyer you’ll understand the fluctuations

Objectively, it is much.

A spontaneous trip need not be an emergency. Live a little.

I'll pose a question: At what rate would an economy ticket on the JFK-LOS route become "much" to you ? I'm not saying "cancel the trip" rate, just "this feels wrong" rate?

-Lord

If I plan my trip and buy it at least 30days to my trip at 3500 it’s too much


Prices are cheaper months before your trip, late at nights, directly on the airline’s website, with more stop overs, few hours to the flight if not fully booked, and when you register for specific airline reward programs/alliances so you can use you points instead of cash

LordAdam16:


Objectively, it is much.

A spontaneous trip need not be an emergency. Live a little.

I'll pose a question: At what rate would an economy ticket on the JFK-LOS route become "much" to you ? I'm not saying "cancel the trip" rate, just "this feels wrong" rate?

-Lord

This is ABV to JKF in 30 days from now attached so you see a practical example. It’s just 1500. But if you’re traveling today you’ll pay 3 to 5k

LordAdam16:


Objectively, it is much.

A spontaneous trip need not be an emergency. Live a little.

I'll pose a question: At what rate would an economy ticket on the JFK-LOS route become "much" to you ? I'm not saying "cancel the trip" rate, just "this feels wrong" rate?

-Lord