News Investigators/ The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has emphasised the need for transparency, accountability, and fair pricing in Nigeria’s domestic travel operations.
Its National President, Yinka Folami, in a statement on Monday, said that over the years, the Nigerian domestic travel industry had been confronted with issues of unfair market practices.
Mr Folami said the current inquiry into the present state of service and pricing in Nigeria’s domestic travel operations by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) was highly necessary.
He said all forms of unfair market practices in the travel industry must be put to a halt to give room for growth.
“Our local airline players refer to global pricing structure only when it is convenient. For example, our experience with global pricing is that one should be able to purchase in advance.
“What happens in our domestic routes pricing and publication is that one cannot purchase three months in advance.
“Since Sept. 2024, it has been practically impossible to purchase Dec. 2024 tickets on lower classes and fares.
“Initially, fares were not displayed in advance which is contrary to global practice and when they were displayed, all lower classes, particularly to a particular region in Nigeria, were frozen.
“All one can buy is just one class, highest price class. This, in our view, is arbitrary and validates the FCCPC’s suspicion of discriminatory pricing.
“It also runs in conflict with our professional teachings that airline pricing is predominantly determined by flown mileage,” he said.
Mr Folami noted that aviation should not be presented to Nigeria as philanthropy, as it remained the backbone of connectivity.
He said aviation must be driven by strong corporate governance, respect for consumer rights, and respect for government structures that were created by law to protect consumers.
“We, at NANTA support the protection of consumer rights against anti-consumer services and discriminatory pricing and extension of inquiry beyond just one airline.
“We support inquiry into the arbitrary pricing structure of airfares in our market both domestic and international.
“There is an increasing imbalance between taxes and basic fares, particularly YQ taxes, fuel surcharge/emergency taxes, which need to be explicit in the interest of fairness to the Nigerian traveler and market. We offer our knowledge and expertise here.
“We also support inquiry into significant delays, cancellations, and poor customer care to the Nigerian traveler.
“We support inquiry into cross-border trading, which is price discriminatory to our market, circumventing, and extractive to our national economy,” he said.
NAN
