Air Peace’s CEO, Allen Onyema, has expressed concerns about foreign airlines using what he believes to be unfair competition strategies on the Nigeria-UK route.
Speaking only on the Channels TV evening show Politics Today, Onyema disclosed that the foreign airlines operating on the route have significantly lowered their international airfares in an intentional effort to force Air Peace out of the market before its time.
The CEO emphasized that foreign airlines were charging outrageous rates prior to Air Peace’s entry into the Nigeria-UK route, citing business class tickets costing as much as N17 million and economy class tickets reaching N5 million. But soon after Air Peace started flying from Lagos to London, international carriers sharply lowered their prices, even though there was little movement in the dollar-to-naira exchange rate.
Onyema expressed his frustration, stating, “The foreign airlines were taking between N15-N17 million for business class, N6 million for premium economy, and N5 million for economy. Then Air Peace came on, charging N4.5 million for business class, and economy class starting from N1.2 million. Now Air Peace did this, everybody has came crashing their prices from N18 million to N5 million. Dollar did not change.”
He went on to explain that international airlines are working together to lower their fares to below their break-even point in order to force Air Peace off the Nigeria-UK route. Onyema issued a warning, stating that Nigerians would pay far more than the going rates if these strategies were successful.
In an effort to give Nigerians access to high-quality travel experiences at a lower cost, Air Peace opened its Lagos-London route on March 30.
Air Peace has provided competitive rates since starting its UK service. Economy class fares start at N1.2 million, which is significantly less than the N3-5 million that foreign carriers typically charge. The cost of a business class ticket is about N4.5 million, which is significantly less than the N15–N18 million that foreign airlines charge.
Onyema also revealed that Gatwick Airport has allegedly interfered with the airline’s operations, trying to obstruct its operations in the UK, since the airline started offering direct flights from Lagos to London a few weeks ago. He used issues with space allocation and ground handling at Gatwick Airport as evidence of these counterattacks.
During the first flight out of London, Onyema said that passengers experienced delays and inconveniences due to the relocation of Air Peace to a new checking area and the assignment of a broken baggage carousel by Gatwick Airport management.
To make matters worse for Air Peace at the London airport, the CEO also disclosed that on the day of the airline’s flight, the boarding gate in the reassigned terminal collapsed.
Onyema expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for helping to successfully launch Air Peace’s Lagos-London route, especially to Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development. But in an effort to drive Air Peace out of business too soon, he called on the government to step in and stop foreign airlines from cutting fares below their break-even points.
In order to give Air Peace a better chance to compete against foreign carriers supported by their governments, he proposed that the government help the airline by lowering its operating costs.
