The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed in its Transport Fare Watch report for November 2022 that the average cost of domestic airplane tickets in Nigeria rose by 97.09 per cent year-on-year last month.

According to the Transport Fare Watch report, the average cost of airplane tickets closed November 2022 with N73,267.57, above the N37,022.97 recorded in the same month last year.

Also, the average price of a single flight ticket was N73,198.65 in October 2022, indicating a 0.09 per cent month-on-month growth when compared to November’s ticket price.

“In air travels fare, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey, increased by 0.09 per cent on a month-on-month from N73,198.65 in October 2022 to N73,267.57 in November 2022.

“On a year-on-year, the fare rose by 97.90 per cent from N37,022.97 in November 2021,” the National Bureau of Statistics said in the report released on Monday.

Taraba and Delta recorded the highest average prices of airplane tickets on a single journey, with passengers paying N77,100, N76,500 respectively. Also on the list includes Bayelsa and Oyo, both of which recorded N76,100 each.

However, the cost of tickets was lowest in Niger, Gombe and Nasarawa, as the three Northern states recorded N67,100, N70,000 and N70,100 respectively.
Inflation, aviation fuel scarcity bites

The business environment in Nigeria has been struggling with inflation, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policies to rein in the surge gains little or no positive effect.

In January 2022, inflation rate was 15.60 per cent, as of November 2022, the rate has increased to 21.47% in November from October’s rate of 21.09 per cent.

Amid the struggle to curb inflation, in the last one year, the cost of obtaining dollars has also increased by 7.96 per cent in the official market and 31.39 per cent in the black market as of December 20, 2022.

The rise in the dollar rate has increased the cost of operation for domestic airlines, as they pay for the cost of maintenance and product import in dollars.

Part of the factors that fueled the rise in ticket price also included scarcity of aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1. The scarcity has driven the price of aviation fuel up due to demand surpassing supply, thereby adding to the cost of operation.
In a bid to limit the impact of the cost of operation on their revenue, they pass part of the expenses to their passengers through ticket costs.