The immediate past Director-General of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Babatunde Irukera, has raised concerns about allegations of ‘predatory pricing’ by foreign airlines against Nigeria’s Air Peace.
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The accusations come as Air Peace recently commenced its Lagos-London route, slashing economy class fares by approximately 66 percent.
Irukera, speaking exclusively with The ICIR, emphasized the need for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and FCCPC to urgently investigate the claims made by Air Peace’s chairman, Allen Onyema. “When you go below market price, knowing that any competitor who doesn’t have the financial muscle or market share than you will not survive is called ‘predatory pricing’,” Irukera explained. “In most cases, those competitors die off, and the other competitor comes in to muscle the market.”
The former FCCPC head urged all relevant government agencies to examine the issues and service provisions to ensure that Air Peace is not pushed out of the market. He called for the FCCPC, in alliance with the NCAA, to invoke the provisions of section 112 of the FCCP Act, which prohibits excessive or manifestly unjust and unreasonable pricing.
Findings by The ICIR revealed that foreign airlines have started crashing their airline ticket prices below those of Air Peace for the Lagos-London route, with some selling economy tickets for as low as ₦700,000. Analysts observe that the emergence of Air Peace on this route has threatened the profit margins of these foreign airlines, potentially leading to a “price war” aimed at crippling the Nigerian carrier.
Former Senator Shehu Sani also shared his concerns, explaining that foreign airlines are crashing their prices because of Air Peace’s competitive fares. The global civil aviation market, worth around $842.71 billion in 2022, is predicted to grow to approximately $1.631 trillion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.62 percent between 2023 and 2030.
As the situation unfolds, the Nigerian government and its regulatory bodies are called upon to investigate the allegations of predatory pricing and ensure fair competition in the aviation industry, protecting the interests of both domestic and international airlines operating in the country.
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