The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes for a single journey increased by 34.06% within a year.
This was contained in the NBS’ Transport Fare Watch Report for May 2023 made available to Channel Network Afrique, CNA in Abuja.
According to the agency, the fare increased on a year-on-year basis from N55,906.86 in May 2022 to N74,948.78 in the same period in 2023.
The Bureau did not give reasons for the significant increase in the prices of airfares within the period under review.
“In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey increased by 0.002% on a month-on-month basis from N74,947.30 in April 2023 to N74,948.78 in May 2023,” the NBS said.
The NBS report stated that the Transport Fare Watch for May 2023 covers bus journeys within the city per drop in regular route, bus journey intercity (state route) charge per person, air fare charge for specified routes single journey, journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop and water-way passenger transport.
The report said the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop increased by 0.23 per cent in May as N649.59 was recorded relative to N648.12 in April, noting that on an annual basis the average fare rose by 11.66% from N581.79 recorded within the same quarter in the preceding year.
The NBS also said the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop in May was N4,002.16 which signifies an increase of 0.19% on a month-on-month basis compared to the N3,994.51 recorded in April.
On a year-on-year basis, the NBS said the bus journey fare rose by 9.09% from N3,668.64 in May 2022.
Also, the NBS’ Transport Fare Watch Report said the average fare paid on motorcycle transportation in May was N464.55, a 0.49% increase from the rate recorded in April (N462.29).
“On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 11.30% compared with the value in May 2022, which was N417.39,” it stated.
