Extend probe on exploitative practices to other airlines, NANTA tells FCCPC

The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has asked the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to extend its probe on Air Peace to other airlines.

On December 1, the FCCPC announced plans to investigate complaints of exploitative practices in the aviation sector.

The FCCPC said it would probe Air Peace over significant price hikes for advance bookings on certain domestic routes.

Speaking in a statement on Monday, Yinka Folami, president of NANTA, stressed the need for transparency, accountability, and fair pricing in Nigeria’s domestic travel operations.

Folami said over the years, the Nigerian aviation domestic travel industry had been confronted with issues of unfair market practices.

He said the current inquiry into the present state of service and pricing in the sector by the FCCPC, is essential.

The NANTA president said all forms of unfair market practices in the travel industry must be stopped to give room for growth.

“Our local airline players refer to global pricing structure only when it is convenient,” Folami said.

“For example, our experience with global pricing is that one should be able to purchase in advance.

“What happens in our domestic routes pricing and publication is that one cannot purchase three months in advance.

“Since September 2024, it has been practically impossible to purchase Dec. 2024 tickets on lower classes and fares.

“Initially, fares were not displayed in advance which is contrary to global practice and when they were displayed, all lower classes, particularly to a particular region in Nigeria, were frozen.

“All one can buy is just one class, the highest price class. This, in our view, is arbitrary and validates the FCCPC’s suspicion of discriminatory pricing.

“It also runs in conflict with our professional teachings that airline pricing is predominantly determined by flown mileage.”

Folami said aviation should not be presented to Nigeria as philanthropy, stressing that the sector remains the backbone of connectivity.

He said the industry must be driven by strong corporate governance, respect for consumer rights, and respect for government structures created by law to protect consumers.

“We, at NANTA, support the protection of consumer rights against anti-consumer services and discriminatory pricing and extension of inquiry beyond just one airline,” the president said.

“We support inquiry into the arbitrary pricing structure of airfares in our market both domestic and international.

“There is an increasing imbalance between taxes and basic fares, particularly YQ taxes, fuel surcharge/emergency taxes, which need to be explicit in the interest of fairness to the Nigerian traveller and market. We offer our knowledge and expertise here.

“We also support inquiry into significant delays, cancellations, and poor customer care to the Nigerian traveller.”

Folami said the association supports inquiry into cross-border trading, “which is price discriminatory to our market, circumventing, and extractive to our national economy”.