Regardless of the lengthy vacation declared for the Eid-el-Fitri celebration, airports throughout the nation recorded low turnout of passengers, checks by Each day Belief have proven.
Our correspondent learnt that many flights have been recording between 70-80 per cent load issue regardless of the three-day vacation.
The federal authorities had earlier declared Tuesday and Wednesday for the Sallah celebration commemorating the 2024 Muslim fasting earlier than it prolonged the vacation to Thursday after the moon was not sighted and Eid is being celebrated immediately (Wednesday).
A verify on the Murtala Muhammed Airport non-public terminal (MMA2) yesterday indicated that there was no rush often related to the festive interval.
An airport official who spoke with our correspondent mentioned whereas few individuals travelled on Monday after the vacation was declared, the quantity was “insignificant”.
Additionally an airline official mentioned, “There isn’t a growth as you’ll have anticipated however on some flights you get like 80 p.c load issue. Like in a 150-seater capability plane and we’re carrying 120 passengers once you would have anticipated a full capability due to the season. That rush will not be there. At instances you may have 90 passengers , 80 and so forth.”
The official blamed the scenario on the financial situations within the nation.
Our correspondent learnt that fares on the home routes have lowered with a Lagos-Abuja one-way flight going for as little as 85,800 on Air Peace and N120,000 on Ibom Air in comparison with N150,000 charged beforehand on the identical route. Additionally ValueJet Lagos-Abuja ticket goes for 86,048 as towards over N100,000.
Our correspondent learnt that Azman, which resumed operation on Monday, even bought tickets as low cost as N50,000 simply to woo passengers.
One other airline official mentioned, “From the site visitors I’ve seen, there isn’t a rush. Yesterday (Monday) you may purchase flights for immediately (Tuesday).
“Gone have been the times of rush in tickets. The identical factor occurred, the flights should not actually costly. When Azman resumed on Monday, the airline needed to scale back its flights to N50,000 from Abuja to Lagos simply to woo again a few of his passengers.”
Aviation analyst, Olumide Ohunayo mentioned other than the financial scenario within the nation, the confusion on the vacations affected air journey.
“The Ministry of Inside did not get its announcement proper and that has put spanner on the travelling plans for many who believed the general public holidays can be on Wednesday and Thursday. I believe that was what affected air journey greater than financial situations,” he mentioned.