Customers of Overland Airways, the sole commercial airline operating in and out of the General Tunde Idiagbon International Airport, Ilorin, have labelled the flight ticket pricing as outrageous and exploitative, especially along the Lagos-Abuja-Ilorin route.
Overland Airways, owned by businessman Edward Boyo, operates from nine cities in Nigeria (Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin, Warri, Dutse, Gombe, Akure and Jalingo) and three international cities (Cotonou, Lome and Niamey). It, however, started its operations in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Customers have complained that the ticket prices are arbitrary and do not match up with the prices of other airlines.
FIJ inspected and documented some of these ticket price disparities.
A flight from Lagos to Ilorin and from Abuja to Ilorin both cost N280,000, even though Abuja is almost twice as far from Ilorin, being 500km apart in distance while Lagos is only 300km from Ilorin.
In addition, it does not tally with other airline prices. For example, a flight from Lagos to Abuja with Air Peace costs N125,900 (economy), nearly half the price of an Overland ticket.
An Abuja to Lagos flight costs N160,000, but an Abuja to Ilorin flight costs 280,000 (twice the ABV–LOS amount), even though Ilorin is closer to Abuja than Lagos.
In the petition written to FAAN and the FCCPC by AU Mustapha & Co, on behalf of Overland Ilorin customers, they complained that Ilorin-bound passengers are consistently charged disproportionately higher fares despite travelling shorter distances.
A passenger would have to pay N560,000 to get to Lagos through Ilorin on connecting flights, while a straight flight would only cost a passenger N160,000:
To curb this cost, passengers began booking Lagos to Abuja tickets and disembarking at Ilorin, but Overland soon stopped this by checking boarding passes.
According to the petition, the customers see this as a clear indication of “intentional and structured exploitation”.
AU Mustapha &Co prayed FCCPC to declare Overland’s ticket pricing discriminatory and anti-consumer, investigate their pricing practices and apply sanctions.
Customer Testimonies
FIJ spoke to Lukman, who testified to being a loyal Overland passenger since the airline started operations in 2005. He is one of the customers petitioning against Overland.
Lukman mentioned that when the airline started operating in Ilorin, they were subsidised by the government, and on a number of occasions he had even received free tickets for his loyal patronage as a form of appreciation.
He claimed that the price hike started one or two years ago since the airline got new aircraft, which he attributed to the Ilorin passengers being many.
“Now, things have become so bad. It is nothing short of exploitation, we feel exploited,” Lukman said.
He mentioned that Overland had become a monopoly in Ilorin and every time any other airline attempted to ply the Ilorin route, Overland would chase them out of business by slashing their prices drastically. When the competing airline leaves, they would inflate the ticket prices again.
He complained that he bought a ticket for his wife in July to Abuja from Ilorin and paid N280,000 for a flight that was to last only 35 minutes.
Lukman recounted an experience of another customer, his friend, who purchased flight tickets for himself and his wife. He was to head to Ilorin, while his wife was headed for Lagos, both from Abuja. The husband had paid N290,000 for his ticket, and his wife’s ticket cost N160,000, but they had both been boarded on the same flight.
“So how can a Lagos flight be cheaper than Ilorin, and they entered the same aircraft? And then you would have to stop in Ilorin before you even get to Lagos,” Lukman told FIJ.
Lukman also said that he wanted to take a flight from Abuja to Ilorin on a weekend to attend his father-in-law’s burial; it was a one-way ticket and he was charged N400,000 for an economy seat. He said he had to fly to Lagos with another airline and go to Ilorin by road, because he was travelling with his children.
“I would’ve had to pay N1.1million for all of us,” Lukman said.
Lukman also claimed that if one needed to reschedule one’s flight for any reason, Overland would charge an additional N120,000 to revalidate the ticket.
When FIJ spoke to Tairu Adebayo, another petitioner, he accused Overland of extortion and said it was long overdue to be reported.
“Imagine buying a one-way ticket from Abuja to Ilorin for N300,000 at times, for 35 minutes airborne,” Adebayo said.
“And the same Overland travels to Jalingo from Abuja, a longer route than Ilorin, for way less. The funny part of it is that Ilorin and Lagos passengers are boarded on the same aircraft.”
Adebayo also confirmed an incident where someone booked a Lagos flight when his destination was Ilorin because the Lagos ticket was cheaper. Overland refused to let him go. After that incident, they began to check boarding passes.
“Because they know there’s competition in Abuja and Lagos, they don’t make those tickets very expensive. It’s very ridiculous and exploitative,” he explained.
Adebayo mentioned that Overland was trying to run a monopoly between four states: Oyo, Osun, Kwara, and some parts of Niger, which go through Ilorin to get to any other destination.
He also confirmed that prices were drastically cemented when competing airlines tried to establish business in Ilorin, mentioning that Arik Air, Green Africa, Capital Airlines and one other had all tried to fly to Ilorin but they went out of business after a while.
“Let them [Overland] come and tell us why Ilorin has to be higher than everywhere else. Are they paying more landing fees or parking fees, or are they buying more fuel?” Adebayo asked.
When FIJ called and emailed FCCPC and Overland on Thursday, they did not respond. Neither had responded at press time.
The post Ilorin Travellers Accuse Overland Airways of Exploiting Them With Costly Flight Tickets appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.