Onyema gave the revelation on Tuesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
He alleged that there is an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines to use lower pricing to eject Air Peace from the Nigeria-London route.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira,” he said.
Air Peace reciprocated the lopsided Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Kingdom when the local airline began direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London on March 30, 2024.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo and his counterpart at the Trade and Investment Ministry, Doris Uzoka-Anita were onboard the inaugural Lagos-London flight, alongside businessmen and women.
Many industry observers have applauded the development, saying the development will encourage local airlines to commence international flights to profitable routes.
The price of international flight ticket on the Lagos-London route, which was as high as N3.5m for economy ticket went for N1.2m as Air Peace commenced the London route, with foreign airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways forced to slash their prices to stay competitive.
However, speaking on Tuesday, the Air Peace boss said foreign airlines operating the route “are fighting back”, adding that his airlines are being “deliberately frustrated in all ways”.
He cited ground handling and space allocation difficulties at Gatwick Airport in the last couple of days.
“It’s a very devilish conspiracy,” said a dissatisfied Onyema.
“All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350.
“Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody.
“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again,” he said.
Onyema, therefore, invited other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by foreign carriers operating into the four major gateway airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.
“I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aeropolitics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price,” he said.
He alleged that there is an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines to use lower pricing to eject Air Peace from the Nigeria-London route.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira,” he said.
Air Peace reciprocated the lopsided Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Kingdom when the local airline began direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London on March 30, 2024.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo and his counterpart at the Trade and Investment Ministry, Doris Uzoka-Anita were onboard the inaugural Lagos-London flight, alongside businessmen and women.
Many industry observers have applauded the development, saying the development will encourage local airlines to commence international flights to profitable routes.
The price of international flight ticket on the Lagos-London route, which was as high as N3.5m for economy ticket went for N1.2m as Air Peace commenced the London route, with foreign airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways forced to slash their prices to stay competitive.
However, speaking on Tuesday, the Air Peace boss said foreign airlines operating the route “are fighting back”, adding that his airlines are being “deliberately frustrated in all ways”.
He cited ground handling and space allocation difficulties at Gatwick Airport in the last couple of days.
“It’s a very devilish conspiracy,” said a dissatisfied Onyema.
“All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350.
“Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody.
“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again,” he said.
Onyema, therefore, invited other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route to break the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by foreign carriers operating into the four major gateway airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.
“I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aeropolitics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price,” he said.
from dailypost
I don't see the issue here. It is a free market. Any airline can charge what it pleases.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with u.a free market yes,but don't u see traveling Nigerians are suffering cos of price monopoly?I support him asking other well meaning Nigerians with carriers to come together to crash d price.we are extorted everywhere.
DeleteLeave the argument for people who have sense.
DeleteBefore now, it is somehow not a free market. It is more like a monopoly because Nigerian airlines don't fly these routes only foreign airways. How come it's now that airpeace came on board and slashed prices that these airlines are slashing their own prices even lower. Like he said, there is a conspiracy and if you as a Nigerian don't see anything wrong with it, then you're not ready for a breakthrough.
DeleteSo shortsighted
DeleteThere are issues. The want to take him out & continue to hike their prices.
DeleteThe most complex B
They are deliberately sabotaging air Peace's effort, something needs to be done about that.
DeleteEven Air Maroc that used to be the cheapest of all circa 2022 was charging around 2M Nara as at January for return trip, just because they saw other airlines jacking up prices, so what has suddenly changed for all those other airlines?
Has the price of aviation fuel suddenly dropped? Greedy capitalists everywhere forever wanting to hold the world hostage.
There is no other better time to support our "own" than now.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should support AirPeace!!!
Yes, price slash or not Nigerians should always fly airpeace. Why didn't the others splash price before airpeace came onboard?? Pure conspiracy.
DeleteYou ate right oh, once they drive air peace out of business, the price will rise again and they will recoup all they lost. They were busy using Nigerians to recoup all their Covid loss as if Nigeria caused Covid. Then air peace appeared to with a lower rate and they suddenly crashed the price. We don’t yet have a national carrier so it is good we rally around the one that at least help our economy considering our limited foreign exchange.Anyways abeg who will crash us price for us? We matter too.
DeleteExactly!
DeleteOya o, they have invited others to come and join.
ReplyDeleteOduduwa airlines over to you 😏
May God bless Dr. Allen Onyenma. More wisdom for Airpeace to maintain the good standards all the way.
ReplyDeleteAMEN oooo, Africa please wake up.
DeleteGod please deliver us from these wicked leaders.
We are the owners of Earth, given to us by you the Almighty.
How much longer will we remain under the curse due to our disobedience.
The end times is here, Africa wake up.
I actually saw lagos to London from #1.2M and I almost screamed about the rip off
ReplyDeleteGod bless you sir
ReplyDeleteGod bless your business
ReplyDeleteHe is absolutely correct. Predatory pricing can have adverse effects in the future. Sustainability for Nigerian industries depends on multiple factors including our support for our local produce. I hope Air Nigeria is still in the works.
ReplyDeleteHe is right, these countries do not want Nigeria to be truly independent. They want to keep us eating crumbs from their palm.
ReplyDeleteSupport our own and let these foreigners allow us thrive.
Twins ♊ Squared.
Honestly, they don't want us to be independent but God pass them. This is the time Nigerians need to stand up for our own and fly our own
DeleteIt's a free market.. Cement price need to be slash too... even though its low quality than Dangote and co
ReplyDeleteMore people can come into cement business but I don't agree with low quality. The last thing that should have low quality is cement maka ndu ndi mmadu
DeleteIt is well trust some strong force to behind this
ReplyDeleteOga, you should have thought out ahead of time every possible reaction the foreign airlines could have come up with to beat you out of the game. And you should have had plans to check all those possible scenarios. It's business and frankly speaking, most Nigerians will consider price first when making a choice on which airline to fly with.
ReplyDeleteI hope you succeed.
Anon 13.33 by the time Airpeace is thrown out of that route you will understand their plans & nothing can be done again.
DeleteThe most complex B
We should support our own first. That's what Chinese and indians are doing that makes their economy to strive presently. Support your own no matter what.
ReplyDeleteWhat Onyema needs to do is study and copy the cooperative relationships with the airlines and he should be fine. This same approach was part of what caused the failure of previous private Nigerian flyers who broke into that route. I get miles points, credit card benefits and rewards on about 20 other carriers and in hotels, touris attractions and over venues which air peace is yet to turn alliances to offer. You don't expect cash pressed students and businesses on a budget to pay a private business for national pride. The people who work in the other international carriers are also Nigerians just like the people they fly. You can't expect a nation as poor as Nigeria to subsidize the international travel of its wealthiest class when we are yet to complete a comprehensive rail network for it's poor and disadvantaged minority. There is no Nigerian bank account so the profit from Air peace goes to the shareholders of his business and the banks backing it. If you don't want to share profits as a business, be prepared to swallow your costs and losses alone.
ReplyDeleteInternational Aerospace is about intercontinental alliances and but sentiments. Egypt air, KLM, Lufthansa , Turkish etc are in the star alliance. BA, Qatar , and the others are in one world so they can pool resources and customers with frequent flyer points and reduce costs of staffing and fees. Every single non-budget airline flying major routes is aligned and each has it's area of concentration and spread where it lifts customers of other airlines. Even a country like Italy had to scale down Alitalia as the national budget couldn't deal with the cost. Egypt air is heavily subsidised by it's nation's government and that cost is constantly being reviewed, kept only because of a tourism industry that can claim direct benefit.
You have a slave mentality, loyal to the gentiles without any wisdom or knowledge of your roots / culture and religion, quick to speak about the wicked ones that stole your identity and birth rights.
DeleteWhether you like it or not, Air Peace is here to stay and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
Good points. But if Nigeria is so poor, how is the London to Lagos route one of, if not the, most lucrative routes in the world? If there are no customers, who is buying these tickets? Nigeria and Nigerian things somehow contradict stereotypes and economic principles and expectations. How Nigerians travel abroad for two days or overnight baffles me. No, I am not referring to politicians. Fly Air Peace, my people. Let Peace rule the skies.
DeleteI like it slash the price for tickets imagine flying from us to nigeria for less than $1k
ReplyDelete