- In recent times, the airfares from Nigeria to choice locations in the US and the UK have significantly reduced
- This significant reduction in air tickets can be linked to major decisions by the CBN and the actions of a privately owned Nigerian airline.
- The cheapest ticket for the Lagos-London route is N838,000 for a one-way Economy Class ticket on Ethiopian Airlines
Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
As a result of the naira’s appreciation in value and competition from Air Peace’s commencement of flights on the Lagos-London route, airfares from Nigeria to other nations have significantly decreased.
Photo Credit: Martin-dm, Aaron Foster
Source: Getty Images
Following the naira’s record-low decline, BusinessDay reported that the pressure on the foreign currency market has decreased recently.
The FX reforms that began last year resulted in a significant devaluation of the naira, sharply increasing the rate at which tickets are sold through the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The IATA rate for ticket sales in Nigeria fell to N1,395/$ last week from around N1,800/$ a few months earlier.
The rate immediately fell, which caused ticket prices to decrease for several destinations.
British Airways offered one-way tickets from Lagos to London for N3 million (Economy Class) and N11 million (Business Class), which worked out to be N1.7 million and N6.8 million, respectively.
A one-way ticket on Lufthansa from Lagos to London costs N2 million for Economy travel and N9 million for Business travel, respectively.
The cost of Business Class, Economy Premium, and Economy Class on Virgin Atlantic dropped from N2 million, N5 million, and N12 million to N1.5 million, N3 million, and N6 million, respectively.
Top 5 cheapest airlines
BusinessDay highlighted the top five cheapest flights from Nigeria to London and the US, two of Nigeria’s most popular travel destinations.
The cheapest ticket available for the Lagos-London route is N838,000 for a one-way Economy Class ticket on Ethiopian Airlines.
Travellers may need to spend over 17 hours travelling on Ethiopian Airlines connecting flights to London.
A one-way Economy Class ticket on Qatar Airways costs N900,000 and travels from Lagos to London over a maximum of 36 hours.
Air Peace costs N1 million for its six-hour direct trip on the route.
Other airlines are Asky Airlines and Royal Air Maroc, charging N1,049,000 and N1,054,000, respectively, with 20 and 10 hours of flight time.
Business class top 5 cheapest
For Business Class tickets, Air Peace charges the cheapest (N1.9 million) for a one-way ticket on the Lagos-London route; Royal Air Maroc, N2.1 million; Qatar Airways, N2.8 million; Turkish Airways, N3.8 million; and Lufthansa, N5.2 million.
Foreign airlines announce new ticket prices
Legit.ng reported that foreign airlines in Nigeria have started to unblock their low-priced tickets on Nigerian routes following the completion of the payment of about $7 billion backlog by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), including the $700 million reportedly belonging to foreign airlines.
The apex bank said two weeks ago that it had completed the payment for verified FX claims of about $7 billion in debt, including forex forward contracts among foreign exchange-denominated debts.
The bank said that about $2.4 billion of the $7 billion debt was invalid, stating that the amount could not be verified due to improper documentation.
Source: Legit.ng
