|
Air fares go up again
Oluseto Olatuyi
With effect from Monday, air passengers will now pay N10, 000 for a one-hour flight on local routes.
The decision to raise airfares by 10 per cent was taken by the Airline Operators of Nigeria after a meeting on Wednesday in Lagos.
With the increase, passengers travelling from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri or Calabar who until now were paying N9, 000 will now have to pay an additional N1, 000.
Those traveling from Lagos to places like Yola, Maiduguri or Kano will pay N22, 400 as from Monday, up from N20, 200.
In a letter to all its members on Thursday, AON said that the new fares should go into effect on July 19, 2004.
The letter by AON, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent read in part, �At the emergency meeting held at ADC Airline�s Boardroom on July 14, 2004, members unanimously agreed that the airfare be adjusted by N1, 000 (for a minimum of one hour flight) for all sectors effective from Monday July 19, 2004.�
Though the association did not give any reason for the increase our correspondent gathered that it was not unconnected with the recent increase in the price of aviation fuel.
A litre of aviation fuel, which hitherto sold for N42, now sells for N47.
The meeting, according to the letter, was attended by most of the operators, including Associated Airline; Skypower; EAS; Bellview; Sosoliso, Kabo Air AeroContractor; Chan-changi; Capital Airlines; Okada; and Dasab Airlines.
The Deputy Managing Director of AeroContractor, Captain Dapo Olumide, who spoke with our correspondent lamented the ever-increasing price of aviation fuel particularly in some part of the country.
According to Olumide, the least one can get aviation fuel from the dealer is N47 per litre.
He said, �Lagos is the cheapest because the airport is there and they get to the airport in 10 minutes. Port Harcourt no problem but when you talk of Maiduguri you have to pay transport on the cost of shipping it to Maiduguri, Sokoto, Kano and other places. The price of fuel is different in those stations.�
Airfares were increased last in July 2003 when the price of aviation fuel was raised to N38 per litre.
However, with the deregulation of the downstream oil sector, the price of the product has continued to increase, a situation, which the operators say, threatens their business.
Apart from the cost of fuel, the airlines recently complained about the increase in the tariff from the regulatory agencies such as the Federal Airport Authority of Nigerian.
These increases, the Operation Manager of Chanchangi Airline, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, said might lead to further action from the operators.
The Punch, Friday July 16, 2004
|
|
| |
Copyright 2003 - 2004
Punch (Nigeria) Limited. All Rights Reserved
Powered by dnetsystems.net
dnet�
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
STOCK MARKET
|
|
As at Thur, July 15, 2004
|
|
8,265
8,250
8,235
|
| Total |
 |
N210.00 |
+1,000k |
|
| Guinness |
|
N147.00 |
+700k |
|
| Mobil |
|
N141.30 |
+631k |
|
| Conoil |
 |
N172.65 |
-735k |
|
| Union Bank |
|
N36.79 |
-101k |
|
| First Bank |
|
N29.00 |
-80k |
|
Volume: 45,029 million
Value: N628.188 million
Deals: 3,650
Index: 27,280.29
Mkt Cap: N1.935 trillion |
|
|
| |
|
AUTO WORLD
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
