Allen Onyema, the Chairman of Nigerian indigenous carrier Air Peace, has expressed concern that foreign carriers operating the Nigeria-UK route are reportedly colluding to force Air Peace out of international operations by collapsing airfares on the route.
There is a “unspoken alliance” among international airlines to utilise reduced pricing to expel Air Peace off the Nigeria-London route, claimed a visibly irritated Onyema on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
“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,” he said.
On March 30, 2024, Air Peace reciprocated the lopsided Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Kingdom when the local airline began direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London.
The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo; and his counterpart at the Trade and Investment Ministry, Doris Uzoka-Anita; were onboard the inaugural Lagos-London flight alongside businessmen and women.
The development has been applauded by many industry observers with more local airlines being encouraged to commence international flights to profitable routes.
The price of international flight ticket on the Lagos-London route was as high as N3.5m but with Air Peace pegging a return economy class ticket for N1.2m, foreign airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways have been forced to slash their prices to stay competitive.
‘Deliberate Frustration’
The Air peace boss said foreign airlines operating the route “are fighting back”. “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,” said a dissatisfied Onyema. “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.”
The airline boss invite other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by foreign carriers operating into the four major gateway airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.
“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.
Onyema expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu and Minister Keyamo for being “solidly behind” Air Peace even as the airline navigates the politics side of operating to London.