Air Peace has announced the introduction of expanded route options for its recently launched Lagos-London service.
Passengers traveling from Abuja, Asaba, Benin, Enugu, Owerri, Warri, and Port Harcourt now have the option to connect through Lagos for onward flights to London.
The announcement was made via a post on the airline’s official X (formerly Twitter) account this Tuesday.
- “Embark on your London adventure from Abuja, Asaba, Benin, Enugu, Owerri, Warri, or Port Harcourt! Seamless connections via Lagos. Make your journey smooth and convenient,” the post read.
This development occurs just days after Allen Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, noted that following the airline’s entry into the Lagos-London route, foreign airlines operating the same route significantly reduced their fares.
This reduction went even lower than the initial price cuts introduced by Air Peace at their launch, in an attempt to oust the airline from the competition prematurely.
Recommended reading: Air Peace – just before the price slash
What you should know
- Air Peace launched its Lagos-London route on March 30 to enhance the quality of travel experience and make international trips more affordable.
- At the launch, Air Peace introduced competitive rates with economy class fares starting at N1.2 million, significantly lower than the usual N3-5 million charged by foreign carriers. Additionally, the airline priced its business class tickets at around N4.5 million, well below the N15-N18 million typically charged by foreign airlines.
- In response, foreign airlines drastically reduced their fares, a move described by Allen Onyema, CEO of Air Peace, as a conspiracy to push the Nigerian carrier out of the competition. Onyema claimed that these slashed fares were below the foreign airlines’ break-even points.
- The strategic expansion of the Lagos-London route to include connections from Abuja, Asaba, Benin, Enugu, Owerri, Warri, and Port Harcourt is a tactical move by Air Peace, as the airline already operates these routes domestically.
Recommended reading: Nigerians to pay N1.2 million for London route-Air Peace
It’s all well and good for travelling out. But how about returning to Naija? You arrive Lagos around 5pm or so from London Gatwick. By the time you are cleared by immigration etc, it’s already late. And passengers heading out of Lagos will have missed the last AP flights to their respective destinations. What do those passengers do? Hang around Lagos? That makes no economic sense and it adds to the travel stress level.
I think the best option for Nigerians is for AP to create direct flights from London Gatwick to Abuja at least once a week and direct flights from London Gatwick to Port Harcourt once per week. This will make sense and encourage Nigerians to patronise AP.
I mean Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt to Port Harcourt but that arrangement is not perfect as it has stopover at Abuja. BA flies direct from London Heathrow to Abuja. These are lucrative markets. Why should AP let foreign airlines enjoy this privilege without a run for their money? We need to wake up from our slumber.
This is just a development. We just have to support him. Inntye coming days airpeace will fine tune the process.
Strategies for Air Peace to win the price war with international carriers over the London route:
1. Introduce more direct flights from other strategic Nigerian cities like PH and Abuja, even if once a week.
2. Enter strategic jet fuel supply partnership with NNPC Ltd using former Oando aviation fuel supply facilities at Nigerian airports. This will help reduce her local fueling cost as jet fuel is a major cost item in the airline industry.
3. Lobby for Nigerian government, at all levels, to make it mandatory that persons and government officials travelling to the UK under government sponsorship must fly air peace which is our local carrier. This way, we will be able to plough back such funds into our economy.
4. The airline should enjoy better privileges in Nigerian airports above their foreign competitors. It is just natural and patriotic that this is done!
This is a great move but am worried about connecting to local flight because of my suitcase and accommodation.
Thanks
Helen
Nigerians be smart o. This Air peace na our own. Oyinbo greedy like mad. We are no fools. We will support our own this time even if All Oyinbo Airlines gang up and charge £100 Return tickets to London/ Frankfurt/Amsterdam/Dubai/Paris/. Air Peace go help strengthen our Nigeria weak economy. This is not about APC or Labour or PDP, this is about our own Nigeria Airline. Oyinbo will never leave their Airline and buy tickets from Naija Airline. We will continue to encourage our Bro and Sis to open their eyes well well and patronise Air Peace. Tell other Nigerians Jare. Na so Edo man talk.
Air Peace has really come to rescue the average man from hands of other airlines and now they have started seeing him as a spoiler. Inorder to sabotage his efforts, they have conspired to push air peace out of business, prematurely.
God pass them!