Why are tickets to fly to Lagos expensive?

Views: 3265

Every year, so many of us accept that Tickets to Nigeria during Christmas are just expensive. We don’t really know why the prices increase year-on-year, especially when we are comparing flights to other high demand destinations around the world. Keep reading to know why flights to Lagos cost so much; particularly during Christmas and how to cut corners to save some of your hard earned money!

Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria

Every year, so many of us accept that Tickets to Nigeria during Christmas are just expensive. We don’t really know why the prices increase year-on-year, especially when we are comparing flights to other high demand destinations around the world. Keep reading to know why flights to Lagos cost so much; particularly during Christmas and how to cut corners to save some of your hard earned money!

We all know the basics of business are that low supply and high demand increases price. If we apply this in the context of ‘Why are tickets to fly to Lagos so expensive’,  there are just 10 airlines which fly from London to Lagos.

The BBC reports that Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport currently handles eight million passengers annually. That’s a lot of passengers and so few airlines, not to mention we are still awaiting a third attempt of a home grown Airline, Nigerian Air.

Routes between London to Lagos is an average of £1400, two years ago the average was £900.

On that note, you would think other destinations with higher demand than Nigeria during Christmas would have similar flight prices or even higher? Turns out that’s not the case, it’s just not as simple as this.

Although the demand to Lagos has increased dramatically year-on-year, there has been no increase in the number of Lagos bound flights/ air services. Nigeria, aka oil-rich country unfortunately, is pending the birth of a viable home-grown carrier. The likes of Virgin Nigeria, Arik and Medview have attempted to permeate the market; however, those airlines either collapsed or slashed their routes. This has left Nigeria dependent on services provided mainly by European and Persian Gulf airlines.

We understand that Lagos is one of the mostexpensive cities to fly in and out of today especially during festive seasons.Ironically it was rated one of the top 10 cheapest cities to live in the entireworld by the Telegraph.

The number of inbound arrivals to Nigeria increases by 12% in 2017 to reach two million trips.

Let‘s use a few destinations to compare and contrast the most populous time to fly during the Christmas break.

So why is it so expensive to fly back home? Is it that airlines are exploiting a high demand destination or is it the rise in the price of aviation fuel?

To sum up, ‘Why are tickets tofly to Nigeria are so expensive’?’, there are a combination of factors thatmake flying to Nigeria particularly costly, especially during the Christmasperiod.

  • A Nigerian owned national carrier is still pending. Nigerian Air is set to fly directly to destinations like New York and London in 2019.
  • The uneven ratio between the number of aircraft flying in and out of Nigeria vs the number of passengers.
  • The rise in the price of aviation fuel from N105 in March which currently sits at N200. This has affected international airlines’ ability to park and fuel their aircrafts in Nigeria. The same aviation fuel costs N110 in Ghana.
  • Airlines take advantage of a good market opportunity. Marketers behind airlines understand their consumers festive travel behaviours. There is a mix of Nigerians going back home, but also non Nigerians travelling to Lagos during Christmas for an ‘Ayia Napa’ style music scene.

Planning a trip to Lagos and you want to cut costs?

There are ways to cut costs if you are put off by the prices to fly to Lagos, but you still want to catch the gist, high life and music scenes, Lagos has to offer this Christmas.

  • You could fly to neighbouring countries such as Cotonou, Benin and get a coach down to Lagos.
  • Fly out to Lagos after Christmas day or on Christmas Day
  • Consider going in January, there are often loads of events still popping off in January; you’ll miss a bit but not all of the hype.
  • You could consider taking a long haul flight with stops, not ideal but if you have a good moisturiser and water you’ll be good.
  • Invest in Nigerian Air 🙂

Author: Dami Olaleye

Comments: 2

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Honestly the ticket prices are ridiculous and it’s quite a shame that Nigeria cannot maintain a good airline. It’s not fair that we have to pay so much to go back home. I considered getting a flight to Cotonou, Benin and then getting to Nigeria from there but to be honest it is also quite expensive to travel to most of west Africa now.
    We need to create a sustainable airline.

    1. My sister I agree with you. This is why we should really be investing in our own country. Richard Branson wanted to invest in Virgin Nigeria but the infrastructure and corruption was too much. Until we can solve this problem another man will continue to charge unfair prices to visit our own home land.

      My own suggestion to get cheaper flight which I don’t think was mentioned above is to plan a few months ahead. If you book early enough you can get ticket much cheaper.

X