The recent 55% depreciation of the Nigerian naira against the United States dollar in the official foreign exchange market has triggered a significant increase in international airfares.
This follows the naira’s drop from around 900/dollar to over 1,400/dollar after the FMDQ Exchange revised its methodology for calculating the nation’s official exchange rate, prompted by allegations of false reporting by approved foreign exchange dealers.
Within 24 hours of the official exchange rate adjustment, international airlines operating in Nigeria raised the exchange rate for pricing their tickets from approximately N900/dollar to N1,421/dollar.
Notably, airfares for popular routes like Lagos-London-Lagos, Lagos-New York-Lagos, and Lagos-Johannesburg have seen proportional hikes.
The President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies, Susan Akporiaye, confirmed the sharp increase and expressed concern about the impact on travel agencies. She highlighted that travelers, often engaged in essential purposes like medical or educational pursuits, are experiencing escalated costs.
Akporiaye revealed that a ticket priced at $1,000 surged from about N1 million to around N1.5 million. Further investigations by The Punch unveiled average airfare tickets to high-traffic international destinations, with costs like N2.77 million for London, N2.65 million for Dubai, N3.2667 million for New York, and N3.05 million for Johannesburg.
For the Lagos-Johannesburg-Lagos route, Africa World Airlines charges N2.7 million, while Turkish Airlines sets the price at N3.4 million. A round-trip from Lagos to Dubai costs N2.3 million with Turkish Airlines and N3 million with Lufthansa, emphasizing the broader implications of the naira’s depreciation on international travel expenses.
