Lagos to London: Foreign airlines slash prices to compete with Air Peace

To compete with Air Peace, which recently started flying on the route, foreign airlines have further reduced their airfares on the Lagos-London route. Air Peace launched direct flights from Lagos to London on March 30, charging N1.2 million for a round-trip economy ticket on a route where other airlines were charging up to N3 million.

Foreign airlines reduced their round-trip economy ticket prices to an average of ₦1.4 million last week as a result of the Nigerian airline’s move, which analysts and stakeholders had predicted. Investigations conducted on Wednesday revealed that a few international airlines have further reduced their costs to an average of ₦841,732.

As of Wednesday when most flights’ rates were checked, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s exchange rate of N1246/$1, Egyptair has further reduced the price of its economy ticket from Lagos to London to ($470) ₦585,620; Virgin Atlantic ($927.99) ₦1.1m;  Royal Air Morocco ($456.99) ₦569,422; British Airways ($787.99) ₦981, 848 and Air Peace London ($655) ₦816, 130 are the current prices for flights to Lagos.

RwandAir has pegged airfare to ($545.35) ₦679,070; Ethiopian Air ($543.84) ₦677, 824; Turkish Airlines ($647.84) ₦807, 408; Air France London ($915.99) ₦1.1m while KLM pegged its price to ($927.84) ₦1.1m. This development has meant that as of the first week of April this year, a one-way ticket from Lagos-London cost between ₦1.03m and ₦1.3m despite the exchange rates being as high as ₦1,250 per dollar.

 (PUNCH)