Airlines increase flight seats to upset high operational  costs

NIGERIA, Oct. 18 – The high operating cost of airlines has made several operators to seek remedy. As part of its strategies to overcome this in the aviation industry, local airlines have increased the number of flight seats,giving room for more passengers to fly and consequently increase revenue.

Responding to the effect of forex scarcity in an interview with The PUNCH, Susan Akporiaye, the President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, said the recent development was part of coping mechanisms by airline owners to boost the capacity of their airlines amid dwindling revenue.

According to her, the lower seats, although cheaper, were to drive up the average seats per departure and translate into lower per-seat costs.

She said, “Nothing has changed in the operating costs yet due to the fluctuating exchange rate, which is affecting our operating costs. The only thing that has changed is that airlines are beginning to release the lower seats now. Some of them have started releasing lower seats.

“Earlier, the airlines stopped selling off all the cheap classes and were only selling the expensive ones. The airlines had cut off all the cheap seats and were selling only the expensive ones because of the trapped fund issue but now that the rate of exchange is high. Most of them are releasing the cheap seats to get more revenue to remain afloat in the business.”

It was reported that stakeholders in the aviation sector have expressed deep concern over the impeding negative impact of the recent increase in airfares on the aviation industry due to scarcity of forex amongst other challenges.

According to The PUNCH, “Though the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had promised to resolve issues facing the sector, experts said poor implementation of policy regulation was a bane affecting the industry.”

It is important for regulators to oversee every move and strategy  by airline operators to remedy their loss to ensure that safety and standard are maintained.

In the  mean time, the CEO of Centurion Security, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, called for a thorough examination of the commercial addition sector by the relevant authorities so as to ascertain the financial health of all airlines, the media house reports..