Airlines Ration Flight Over High Operations Cost …May Further Increase Flight Tickets Prices

Sequel to high cost of aviation fuel, otherwise known as ‘Jet A1’ in the aviation industry, and other operational challenges, some airlines at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, have begun to ration flight movements in order to curtail losses.
The Tide’s check has shown that some of the airlines that operate daily now operate twice weekly, while some have expunged afternoon flight operations.
Findings showed that the United Nigeria Airline that operates daily flight to Abuja and Lagos from Port Harcourt, has rescheduled its operations to only Mondays and Wednesdays
Also, the Aero Contractors Airline no longer operate daily flight as it used to, while Ibom Air has also stopped its daily afternoon Abuja flight operations.
Efforts made to contact some key officials of these airlines for comments on the matter revealed that some of them were out of Port Harcourt for some other engagements.
Meanwhile, an official of the United Nigeria Airline, who  wanted to be ananymous, disclosed to The Tide that the rationing of their flight was because of the current challenges of higher cost of operations.
Apart from the aviation fuel, other charges like parking fees, and landing charges by aviation agencies have made their airline to focus on airports where they have advantages.
The United Nigeria Airline officer also hinted that one of their aircraft has gone for maintenance in Morocco, while other aircrafts now focus on their major areas of operations, adding that only one of the aircraft is set aside to cover all other airports, including Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, there is apprehension among air travellers that the flight ticket may further increase from N50,000 minimum to N120,000, following which some travellers have said they would resort to travel by road.
The Airline Operators Association has threatened that tickets might increase to N120,000, if nothing was done about the Jet A1.

By Corlins Walter