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Aviation fuel shoots to N280/litre

By on February 21, 2017

The slide in the value of the naira against the dollars has caused the price of aviation fuel, known as Jet A1, to skyrocket,  Daily Trust checks have shown.

The price which stabilized in recent times, selling between N220 to N255 per litre, has increased to N265 following acute dollar scarcity.

The naira hit an all-time low last week exchanging for between N507 to N510 to a dollar. This, coupled with the scarcity, has taken effect on the prices of aviation fuel with airline operators lamenting over the weekend.

Findings by Daily Trust yesterday showed that a litre of fuel which sold for N230-N240 in Lagos few weeks ago has now increased to N245-N250 per litre.

However in other airports across the country, it has skyrocketed to about N265-N280.

Director of Flight Operations, Azman Air, Capt. Tanko Afegbua, confirmed the development to Daily Trust. He said, “I can tell you that in Kano, the price has gone up to N280 per litre and we don’t have option than to buy it in order to keep the operations running.”

He attributed the development to dollar shortage, saying fuel marketers were complaining that the landing cost has increased.

There are fears in the industry that the price may soon hit N300 if the naira continued to depreciate against the dollar.

An airline source who spoke with Daily Trust yesterday also said the development portended danger for the industry. According to him, more airlines may be forced to close shop if this trend continued.

Experts also blame the rising fuel cost on the cost of air tickets which has gone up astronomically with a one-hour flight costing about N50,000 for a one way trip.

A one-way ticket from Lagos to Abuja used to be about N20,000 to N25,000.

 

[DailyTrust]