Hike in airfares inevitable – expert

Experts in the aviation industry have said that the hike in air airfares is inevitable because travel agents are being knocked out of the industry, leaving passengers at the mercy of black market rates when purchasing tickets. Capt. Roland Iyayi, Aviation professional and President/ CEO Topbrass Aviation Limited disclosed that the crisis with foreign airlines create unemployment and a hike in air tickets. According to Iyayi, with the airlines shutting down access to the GDS, travel agents will not be able to sell directly to passengers, as passengers have to pay the travel agency monies in foreign exchange to buy tickets. He noted that the effect is the fact that airline tickets will continue to rise in price in Nigeria. He added that the airlines in the guise of trying to ensure they recover all the monies, would invariably use rates on their online platforms that will be higher than the first-year rate issued by the central bank. Stating that Nigeria was not prudent with its extra reserves and foreign exchange, he said the country is required to guarantee reciprocity. He said: “Foreign airlines should be able to take their monies out of the country. They should not be exposed to double taxation and all sorts of things enshrined in a typical bilateral or multilateral air services agreement. “The government’s non-allowance to foreign airlines to take out the monies, “invariably, is a breach of the agreement we have with them in the first place. So all these are issues that ordinarily we should address.”