The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, Allen Onyema has given reasons on why local flight fares have skyrocketed.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Onyema attributed the rising cost of local air fares to the value of Naira against the Dollar and the price of aviation fuel.
“Apart from the issues of forex, other airlines in the world borrow money at 3%, 4% or 5%, but in Nigeria, we borrow at 26%. How are you going to do that?” Onyema queried.
He added: “Talking about air fares, how do we get Dollar? How much is Dollar today? It is no longer N300. Dollar is at the centre of it all.
“Everything about the aircraft is Dollar. Not even a pin; not even the rug you step on in the aircraft; not even the velcro is manufactured in Nigeria. Everything is tested against fire; imported from abroad; its Dollar.
“So, today you are buying Dollar at N1,000 and you expect to pay the same fare as you were paying when the Dollar was N300.
“Today, you are buying fuel at over N1,000 and you expect to pay the same thing you were paying when fuel was at maybe N300 to a litre”.
Meanwhile, speaking on Politics Today on Thursday, on the incidents involving several aircraft recently, Onyema said: “There are so many things that could cause some of these incidents.
“It could be bad weather. It could be an error on the part of the pilot. However, the cases are under investigation. But what I can tell you is that the Nigeria airspace is more than safe”.