The association of foreign airlines representatives of Nigeria (AFARN) has said the new forex regime will inadvertently increase the price of air fares.
President of AFARN, Kingsley Nwokoma, told the News of Agency on Monday, that the new flexible foreign exchange policy recently introduced by the federal government could ultimately lead to a hike in air fare.
Nwokoma was quoted to have said, “Apparently, it is going to affect the airlines and on the long run; those into the import and export businesses will also be affected.”
“For instance, if the airline’s ticket rate is about N200 to the dollar, it means we are still using the old CBN rate.”
“Now that everything is at par and parallel, we will be looking at between N350 and N360 and above depending on market demands.”
“In essence, it will affect aviation generally. For example, the price of ticket will apparently increase and the cost of importing and exporting of cargoes will also increase.”
Consequently, Nwokoma called on the federal government to exempt members of the AFARN from the new policy.
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