British Airways, Emirates Lead Ticket Sales In Nigeria

VENTURES AFRICA – About 20 international airline operators in Nigeria including British Airways (BA) and Dubai-Emirates Airlines, generated about 158.1 billion naira ($1 billion) in revenue from ticket sales in 2012, according to report.

According to the BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) study, British Airways is the first choice of international travellers in the country following a 2-year consecutive leading domination of the market.

In 2011, with 31.7 billion naira ($200.3 million) earned from ticket sales, BA had a market share of 20.4 percent. The following year it increased ticket sales to 33.5 billion naira ($211.7 million) and market share to 21.2 percent.

Emirates Airlines which occupied the second position on the report plunged in earnings from 30.5 billion naira ($192.7 million) in 2011 to about 22.4 billion naira ($141.5 million) in 2012. The operator’s market share also dropped from 19.6 percent to 14.2 percent in 2012.

Business Day attributed the sharp drop to “the rising patronage Etihad and Qatar Airways got in 2012.”

Etihad and Qatar Airways increased ticket sales to 2.5 billion naira ($15.8 million) and 8.2 billion naira ($51.8 million) respectively in 2012.

The Nigerian business newspaper reported that 7 of the 20 airlines selected in the research recorded increased flight ticket sales in 2012. “Turkish Airlines posted the best performance,” it said.

The airline recorded a 107 percent increase in ticket sales from 1.7 billion naira ($11 million) in 2011 to 3.6 billion naira ($22.7 million) in 2012.

Egypt Air, Air France, Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian Airlines also increased ticket sales by 33 percent, 23 percent, 22 percent and 22 percent respectively when compared with their 2011 results.

The report also indicated 11 losers whose ticket earnings plummeted. Emirates’ ticket sales fell by 26 percent, Alitalia 19 percent, Kenya Airways 12 percent. KLM and Royal Air Maroc dropped by 8 percent each.

“The worst hit was Iberia Airlines.” Its ticket sales plummeted from 1 billion naira ($6.3 million) in 2011 to 629 million naira ($3.97 million).

According to the report, the government’s 5 percent VAT on flight tickets saw it earn 7.9 billion naira ($49.9 million), a little increase from the 7.8 billion naira ($49.3 million) earned the previous year.