Dearth of refineries, others responsible for hike in flight tickets

The inability of the federal government to resuscitate the country’s refineries to refine produce aviation fuel – Jet A1coupled with difficulties in accessing foreign exchange and multiple taxes is negatively impacting prices of flight tickets in Nigeria.

The lack of local refinery necessitates the current importation of Jet A1, thus contributing to its skyrocketing price of the product in Nigeria, 40 percent of airline operations goes into the purchase of its fuel, which is then factor into the cost of flight tickets.

An expert and General Manager, TotalEnergies Nigeria, Engr. Rabiu Abdulmutalib opined that unless the aforementioned challenges are resolved, the prices of the products and flight tickets would continue to rise in the country.

At a LAAC one day conference with the theme ‘Nigeria’s Aviation Industry: Management, Policy and Regulation’ in Lagos, he said a litre of aviation fuel on the domestic scene oscillates between N305 and N315 per litre, depending on the airport an airline is buying from.

According to him, the inability of local refineries to refine the product locally, high investment in logistics and high cost of aviation fuel handling equipment like refuellers, hydrant dispenser/servicers and filtration systems are also contributed to the sordid situation in the local market.

To address the current situation, Abdulmutalib canvassed for proper coordination among relevant government agencies in monitoring and enforcement of all standards along the supply chain.