Air tickets for domestic flights are among items and services that have increased as more Nigerians opt to fly to their hometowns to celebrate the Christmas holidays.

While many passengers who chose to travel by road from Lagos to the South East paid as high as N14,000 according to investigation, those who opted to fly didn’t fare any better as domestic operators made brisk business.

Information gotten from their different counters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, domestic terminal and also from their websites, indicates that many of the airlines had sold out most of their seats for flights going to Owerri and Asaba specifically.

Air Peace, the largest domestic operator, had 14 flights from Lagos to Owerri for December 24, 2019 and at the time of filing this report, all the seats on the flights were sold out. But for flights on Wednesday 25, economy seats were sold for N79,700 for Lagos to Owerri while tickets for Lagos to Asaba for December 24, 25, 26 and 27 had eight flights for each day and all were sold out by the time this report was filed.

Arik Air sold out seats for December 23 and 24 from Lagos to Asaba and flights for economy seats for December 25 to Asaba costs N50,909 and it is likely to increase. Flights for economy seats for December 23 and 24 from Lagos to Owerri were also sold out, while for December 25, economy seats goes for N50,864.

Dana Air also sold out all their economy seats to Owerri for December 23, 24 and 25, while business class cost N79,200. Azman Air had sold out all its seats for Lagos – Owerri for the month at its promotion rate of N29,000 as a way of introducing customers to its new routes.

For Ibom Air, economy seats from Lagos to Abuja for December 24 starts from N33,000 while Azman Air stars from N32,500.

Kehinde Peters, a travel agent who operates in Lagos told Daily Sun the states that have had most passengers who booked for flights were those travelling to South East for the Christmas celebrations.

She said more people opted to fly this year compared to last year for fear of falling into the hands of kidnappers.

“We sold more tickets this year than we did last year because many of our customers were afraid to travel by road and that is why you can see that most of the seats are already sold out. Generally even the prices of buses have gone up. Last year, people paid N10,000 to Onitsha but this year, I hear that some people even paid as high as N15,000. What if you pay that amount and get attacked by kidnappers on the road? So you can see that despite the high rate, flying is safer even though it is more expensive,” Ms Peters said. (Daily Sun)

Update news