Air Peace has said its temporary withdrawal from the Lagos-Johannesburg route will take effect from today, August 22, citing a worsening forex crunch, increasing cost of aviation fuel as well as its scarcity in addition to the delayed issuance of visas to travellers by South African High Commision.
The Air Peace management said in a statement: “Having informed the South African High Commission in Lagos of the effects of the difficulty in getting SA visas by Nigerians, which consequence is the abysmally low passenger loads on our flights to and from Johannesburg, we believe that the situation will have improved within the next 60 days. Hence, our willingness to resume operations on October 8, 2022.”
The subtle restriction in travel is not peculiar to Air Peace. South African Airways (SAA) is also considering a reduction of daily flight services to three-weekly flights to avert flying empty.
IATA, the clearing house for over 280 world airlines, has also urged the Federal Government to ensure foreign airlines repatriate their funds in the interest of Nigerian aviation. The body expressed disappointment that the amount of airline money blocked by the Nigerian government grew to $464 million in July.
Its Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, Kamil Alawadhi, said IATA’s many warnings that failure to restore timely repatriation would hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity are proving true with the withdrawal of Emirates from the market.
Alawadhi said: “Airlines cannot be expected to fly if they cannot realise the revenue from ticket sales. Loss of air connectivity harms the local economy, hurts investor confidence, and impacts jobs and peoples’ livelihoods. It’s time for the government of Nigeria to prioritise the release of airline funds before more damage is done.”
