The President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mr. Yinka Folami, has urged stakeholders in the aviation sector to move away from speculation and focus on facts and professional insight in the ongoing debate over domestic airfares.
Speaking during an interview with newsmen in Lagos, he said NANTA’s position is grounded in decades of hands-on experience in ticketing and airfare construction, stressing that as the recognised downstream trade body, the association’s contributions are based on practice rather than conjecture.
Mr. Folami also clarified that the statement which sparked the current public discourse did not originate from Dr. Allen Onyema, cautioning against personalizing a technical issue that requires objective examination.
Addressing the core of the debate, the NANTA President dismissed suggestions that government taxes are responsible for seasonal increases in domestic airfares.
He explained that statutory taxes remain constant throughout the year, yet fares often rise sharply during peak travel periods such as December and fall again in the early months of the new year.
According to him, this pattern clearly points to market forces, demand pressures and operational considerations, not government levies, as the drivers of seasonal price hikes.
Mr. Folami also expressed concern over claims that domestic air tickets carry as many as 18 government taxes, describing the assertion as unfamiliar to practitioners despite NANTA’s more than 50 years of continuous industry experience.
While not dismissing the claim outright, he said it deserves careful scrutiny and transparent deconstruction by relevant authorities rather than acceptance or rejection through speculation.
Drawing from practitioner experience, he explained that domestic ticket components typically include government sales tax, airport tax, the basic airline fare and surcharges often listed as YQ or YR.
He noted that these surcharges frequently account for a disproportionately large share of the ticket price, sometimes far exceeding both government taxes and the airline’s base fare.
Citing an illustrative example, Mr. Folami said such pricing structures raise legitimate questions about transparency and fairness, especially given that YQ and YR charges were originally introduced as emergency-related measures.
While reaffirming NANTA’s strong support for local airlines and the need to protect domestic aviation, the President stressed that this must be balanced with responsibility to the travelling public.
He said consumer confidence can only be sustained through clarity, fairness and transparency in pricing.
The NANTA boss assured that NANTA remains ready to engage constructively with airlines, government and the legislature to provide practitioner-led insight, deconstruct contentious claims and promote an aviation ecosystem that is both industry-sustainable and consumer-sensitive.
Reporting By Nosa Aituamen