'Price war will begin' - Minister announces date Emirates Airlines will resume operations in Nigeria

On the back of reports that the naira has continued to strengthen against the dollar and that Emirates Airline intends to resume operations in Nigeria, it is anticipated that airfares would decrease even further.

The minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, declared on Monday that Emirates has completed its preparations to operate again.

Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, declared on Monday that Emirates has completed its preparations to operate again in Nigeria before June 2024.

Keyamo revealed this on Arise TV, claiming to have received a letter from Emirates regarding the carrier's comeback.

Stakeholders expect cheaper tickets

Aviation industry participants have predicted a large drop in ticket prices due to the naira's strengthening and Emirates' return to flying.

Susan Akporiaye, president of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), said: “Emirates is the master of price war because they have the money. Despite suspending flights in Nigeria for over two years, Emirates has been paying its staff and keeping its office space. Emirates will come back and slash ticket prices to London. This is when the price war will begin. Emirates don’t depend on sales of tickets to survive.”

The president of the Association of International Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, Kingsley Nwokoma, told BusinessDay that international airlines had announced lower tickets because they had received money stuck in their systems.

Nwokoma said: “The reason why fares went up in the first place was because low inventories were shut down. Now, the government has shown enough goodwill to make payments, so airlines should 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 commercial banks.” He said that the naira strengthened when CBN released the stuck money.

He said that this caused fares to decrease.

He added: “Fortunately, all these happened at the same time Air Peace commenced its Lagos-London flight."

According to him, the return of Emirates flights will increase competition on international routes, giving travellers additional options.

Foreign airlines quote new ticket prices

Legit.ng reported that experts and stakeholders have predicted that international airfares will continue to decline despite the recent ticket price reductions of more than 50%.

Recall that foreign airlines in Nigeria started to unblock their low-priced tickets on Nigerian routes following the completion of the payment of about $7 billion backlog by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The decrease in the fare was credited to several factors, including the depreciation of foreign exchange rates, the federal government's pressure on foreign airlines to offer cheaper tickets, and Air Peace's commencement of flights to the United Kingdom.