Emirates Airlines is wooing Nigerian passengers with cheap dollar airfares, but the move is attracting a mix of knocks and applause from aviation experts and travellers.

BusinessDay’s checks on Monday showed that all fare inventories on Emirates Airlines’ website were priced in dollars, but prices were competitive when compared with other airlines.

“The news that Emirates has opened bookings is supposed to be good news, but it is not because it’s in dollars. This means that people have to buy dollars in black market to be able to pay for Emirates’ tickets, thereby putting more pressure on the foreign exchange market, which will result in scarcity and fare increase,” Susan Akporaiye, managing director and CEO, Topaz Travels and Tours, told BusinessDay.

Emirates had earlier announced that it would resume services to Nigeria from October 1, 2024, operating a daily service between Lagos and Dubai, and offering customers more choice and connectivity from Nigeria’s largest city to and through Dubai.

The service will be operated using a Boeing ‪777-300ER. EK783 will depart Dubai at 0945hrs, arriving in Lagos at 1520hrs. The return flight, EK784, will leave Lagos at 1730hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0510hrs the next day.

Olumide Ohunayo, industry analyst and director of research at Zenith Travels, told BusinessDay that there is a possibility that Emirates opened the system and needed some time to configure its fares in naira, or might have introduced dollars and offered cheapest fares.

“Checking the Australian route from here, I found out that Emirates has the cheapest fares. If it is in dollars and I have to use naira to buy dollars and it is cheaper for me in naira, I will still go and pick the one that is in dollars. It is a bit tricky. It may be a marketing gimmick. I would rather wait for October 1 when they say they are going to commence and see what happens.

“They can’t afford to go against the travel agents. This is an airline that is profitable even without the Nigerian route. They may be the first airline that says they will go against the norm and bypass travel agents, which I hope they won’t. They have been able to prove to everyone in the industry that they are a strong force without the Nigerian market,” Ohunayo said.

Ohunayo hinted that if Emirates could make a lot of profits when it suspended flights into Nigeria, then it should have a strategy to succeed in the Nigerian market.

He recalled that one of the reasons Emirates pulled out of the Nigerian market was because of the trapped funds and its fuel suppliers, noting that the airline paid in dollars while others were paying naira to their suppliers.

“These are some of the things they should renegotiate before returning. How can we even ask them to charge in naira if suppliers are charging for the services they provide in dollars? If you ask them to charge in naira, then it should apply to government agencies. When you are coming to equity, come with clean hands.”

BusinessDay’s findings show that a return economy class ticket from Lagos to London Heathrow on KLM costs N2.3million; Air France – N2.2 million; Ethiopian Airlines – N2.7 million; Egypt Air – N2.7milion; and Virgin Atlantic, N3.2 million.

A return business class ticket from Lagos to London Heathrow on Royal Air Maroc costs N5.7million; Air Peace – N6.5 million; Turkish Airlines – N6.9 million; Egypt Air, N7.1 million; Qatar Airways, N7.4 million.

However, a return economy class ticket from Lagos to London Heathrow on Emirates costs $1,130, which amounts to N1.83 million while the business class costs $4,290, amounting to a little above N6.9 million.

Also, an economy class return ticket from Lagos to Dubai on Emirates costs $987. With the exchange rate of N1,620/$, this will cost N1.59 million. A business class return ticket from Lagos to Dubai on Emirates costs $4,418, amounting to N7.1 million.

A return economy class ticket from Lagos to Dubai on Turkish Airlines costs N1.63 million; Kenya Airways, N1.17 million; Egypt Air, 1.3 million; Qatar Airways, N1.3 million; Ethiopian Airlines, N1.5 million; Emirates, N1.7 million .

A return business class ticket from Lagos to Dubai on Egypt Air costs N4.1million; Kenya Airways – N4.8million; Qatar Airways – N4.97 million; Turkish Airlines, N4.98 million; Ethiopian Airlines, N5 million.

Yinka Folami, president, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), said despite Emirates’ opening of the ticket booking, the United Arab Emirates’ visa policy is still very exclusive.

“The restrictions are still high. I expect that an airline like Emirates, having left the market for about two years, will come in with an entry strategy. As a Nigerian, I’m worried that Emirates is charging in dollars.

“Our legal tender is still the naira and my personal experience is that if we keep denominating dollars in Nigeria, it will keep putting pressure on the naira. That’s the way I see it,” Folami said.

According to him, he would rather have a situation where the legal tender of the country is respected, adding that beyond the cost of tickets, Nigeria is a sovereign nation deserving respect. (BusinessDay)

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