Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, says some airlines are conspiring to take his company out of business by reducing their flight tickets for the busy Lagos-London route.
Air Peace launched Nigeria into a major economic power sector, which has sparked severe price tussle among well-known international airlines and created a very competitive advantage for the promotion of private enterprise.
Air Peace started direct flights from Lagos to London on March 30, putting its price for a round-trip economy ticket at N1.2 million on a route that foreign airlines used to charge as much as N3 million.
This has led many foreign airlines to cut their airfares to an average of N1.4 million for a round-trip economy ticket while more have further slashed their prices to an average of N841,732.
In an interview on Channels Television, Onyema who was perturbed by the recent price slash of foreign airlines, said, Nigerians would pay ten times more if the airlines succeeded in their “devilish conspiracy” against Air Peace.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, ten times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira,” he said.
Allen said foreign airlines operating the route “are fighting back” and we are being deliberately frustrated in all ways, he said. He mentioned the ground handling and space allocation issues experienced at Gatwick Airport on its debut entry into London.
Their governments are supporting them to take Air Peace out of business undermining as they benefited I ripping off the country and undermining the strengths of Nigeria’s economy and if they succeed it doesn’t look good on the economy of the country, he said.
He then made an appeal to other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly being enjoyed by foreign carriers operating into the four major airports of the country- Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt International Airports.
In an effort to reaffirm strong government’s policy, the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN) has debunked reports that foreign airlines in Nigeria reduced fares because of Air Peace’s debut flight to London.
Kingsley Nwokoma, President of AFARN said that, the fares reduction on the popular London route and other destinations is not due to competition rather a drop in the foreign exchange rate and the repatriation of trapped funds.
“Competition is good but before Air Peace came on-board, foreign airlines have been speaking to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the government on releasing low inventories. This discussion has been going on for a while now.
A substantial amount of trapped funds have been paid to foreign airlines and that was why foreign airlines released lower fares. The reason why fares went up in the first place was because low inventories were shut down.
Now government has shown enough goodwill to make payments, so it is in the interest of airlines to also show some goodwill to Nigerians by making low inventories available. To the best of my knowledge, CBN has cleared all the backlog, the only outstanding payments are the ones with the bank, Nwokoma said.
Many Nigerians see this development has beneficial partnership between private and public sectors while lamenting on the rip off foreign airlines have enjoyed for far too long and call on the government to make available, policies that we help grow Nigerian businesses.
On board the inaugural flight were the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, Minister of Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anita and many well meaning Nigerians who are optimistic that the economy will make a good turn and the naira will soon appreciate.
Onyema in his appreciation thanked President Bola Tinubu and Festus Keyamo for being “solidly behind” Air Peace as the airline navigates the politics of operating into London.
