The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said increased competition among airlines will help reduce domestic airfares in Nigeria, amid concerns over the rising cost of air travel.
Keyamo stated this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, noting that domestic flight fares had already dropped significantly from the levels recorded during the Christmas period.
According to the minister, the decline is being driven by the entry of more airlines into the country’s commercial aviation market.
“Guess what? What did you pay during Christmas? Four hundred and something, five hundred thousand. What is it now? It’s a hundred and something. We are forcing it down by competition. We have opened the doors,” he said.
Keyamo said Nigeria was experiencing an unprecedented increase in the number of airlines seeking to operate commercial services, with new carriers emerging and others preparing to begin operations in different parts of the country.
“Under the previous government, you have not seen this kind of surge we are having now into the airline business, commercial airline business, like you have now,” he said.
He listed Enugu Air among the new entrants and disclosed that Caliphate Airlines was preparing to commence operations in Sokoto.
The minister said the new carriers were being established on more sustainable business models, unlike in the past when many domestic airlines struggled to remain operational.
“It’s only President Bola Tinubu’s government that has made it a point, a one-point agenda, to support the sustenance of local airlines. The growth and sustenance of local airlines,” Keyamo said.
On concerns over the high cost of aviation fuel, Keyamo explained that the pricing of Jet A1 was outside the regulatory mandate of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development.
He said aviation fuel is a petroleum product and falls under the jurisdiction of the petroleum ministry.
Keyamo added that he had engaged fuel marketers and convened meetings to address concerns over the cost of Jet A1 but maintained that his ministry lacked the authority to regulate or determine its price.
He attributed the recent increase in aviation fuel prices partly to external developments, including the conflict involving Iran, adding that prices had started to decline.
The minister maintained that although the aviation sector was directly affected by the cost of Jet A1, it would be unfair to hold the aviation ministry solely responsible for an issue outside its regulatory authority.
