The Chairman of Nigerian indigenous carrier Air Peace, Allen Onyema has raised concern over alleged conspiracy among foreign airlines operating the Nigeria-UK route.
Onyema asserted this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Tuesday, claiming that the carriers are deliberately undercutting airfares on the route as part of a scheme to push Air Peace out of international operations.
He alleged that these airlines are employing lower pricing strategies with the aim of forcing Air Peace off the Nigeria-London route.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira. We are being deliberately frustrated in all ways,” he said, citing groundhandling and space allocation difficulties at Gatwick Airport in the last couple of days.
“It’s a very devilish conspiracy. All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350. Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cashcow for everybody.
“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again.”
He further invited other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by foreign carriers.
“I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aeropolitics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price,” he said.
Recall on March 30, 2024, Air Peace commenced direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London.
The development has been applauded by many industry observers applauded who viewed it as a positive step forward.
Prior to this, international flight tickets for the Lagos-London route had reached heights of up to N3.5 million. However, Air Peace’s introduction of a return economy class ticket priced at N1.2 million forced foreign carriers such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways to slash their fares significantly to stay competitive.
