How BA, VAA denied Nigerians access to cheap fares, by Demuren

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor Thenationonlineng.net

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has established proof that British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) deliberately denied Nigerians access to available cheap fares so they could promote sale of higher fares, the Director General,NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, has said.

Demuren, who stated this in Abuja when he addressed the Senate Committee on Public Hearing on Violation of Aviation Laws and Practice by Foreign Airlines, revealed that unlike what obtains in the US route, where BA and VAA fill the lower fare seats before moving to the higher fare seats, the two airlines restricted availability and access to the lower fare seats from Nigeria in order to promote sale of the higher fare seats.

"The lower fare seats were either rare or non-existent for purchase from Nigeria, which is quite different from the case to Boston or New York. This is consistent with NCAA’s discovery. Airlines are required to periodically file tariffs with the NCAA.

"A check of the NCAA records and testimony from travel agents clearly demonstrate BA and VAA repeatedly and routinely deceived and misled the NCAA and consumers to believe some of the fares displayed and disclosed were in fact available when that was not the case.

"Comparing the information in the filled tariffs with actual sales confirmed that the lower fares were not only unavailable, it was clear that some of them were never intended to be available

"Whichever way it was, it was clear that BA and VAA discriminated and still discriminate against consumers in Nigeria in pricing," said Demuren.

On the regional imbalance, Demuren said in some cases, first class travel between Lagos and London was more than double the cost between Accra and London.

"For the two airlines that operate several thousand take offs and landings everyday and fly to no less than 40 countries the only language to describe what the Nigerian market accounts for in their profitability, is unconscionable, discriminatory and unfair," he said.

Meanwhile, British Airways last week gave reasons why it operates high fares, citing the high costs of operations into Nigeria, market demand and other sundry reasons.

The position of British Airways on the vexed issue may be seen as defiance of the ultimatum given by the Federal Government to stop the carrier from flying into Nigeria, if it does not reduce its fares on the Lagos - London route.

British Airways, which spoke through its Corporate Affairs Consultant, The Quadrant Company in a statement signed by Chidi Ebere Onuora, said it is regrettable that the airline has such high fare offering which according to him is subject to a litany of operational factors.

Giving details of the reasons, British Airways said : " Comparing fares across different routes is notoriously difficult due to the number of factors which can influence pricing.