Nigerian airlines have increased domestic flight fares from Lagos to Abuja as the price of aviation fuel continues to rise.

Checks by Peoples Gazette on Saturday revealed that, while Air Peace economy ticket for Sunday at 10:40 a.m. and 7:50 p.m. was priced at N100,000, seats in Max Air flights scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. were priced at N125,000 and N130,000, respectively.

Seats on an Air Peace flight scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on Sunday were still selling for N85,000, with flights at 2:55 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. sold out.

At the time The Gazette checked, Max Air’s flights scheduled for 5:20 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. were still selling for N84,000 and N75,000, respectively.

Also, prices for economy tickets in Arik ranged between N80,595 and N93,452, with Ibom Air’s only available Sunday flight selling its economy ticket for N78,000.

The increase in airfare is the result of multiple challenges confronting the aviation industry, including an increase in the price of jet A1 and the high cost of facility maintenance caused by constant inflation and the depreciation of the country’s currency.

Earlier in July, Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractors, temporarily suspended operations due to the scorching impact of skyrocketing price of aviation fuel.

The airline said operations in the past few months had been challenging, citing high cost of maintenance, skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation, and forex scarcity as some of the challenges faced by airline operators.

Recall that airline operators in May threatened to shut down operations over the incessant hike in price of aviation fuel from N160 to N900 per litre.

The union had in a letter to Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, bemoaned the increase in cost of operations reaching over ninety-five per cent.

To avoid further disruptions in the aviation industry, the House of Representatives ruled in May that six million liters of aviation fuel be sold to airline operators at the rate of N480 per litre for the next three months.

However, reports have predicted that airlines would shut down operations in the country over the incessant hike in aviation fuel, along with other environmental challenges.