Fear grips Nigerian airlines over possible ‘upswing’ in Naira

Palpable fear is rocking airlines in Nigeria with some operators, having started informing their Travel Agents to stop issuing tickets on their behalf due to the new exchange rate policy.

According to sources, airlines that used to sell ti’ckets at a benchmark fixed exchange rate price are afraid they might face huge exchange rate losses with the introduction of the new exchange rate floating system.

They have thus informed their travel agents to quit issuing tickets for now until they fully understand the exchange rate market.

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The CBN launched the new flexible exchange rate policy on Monday with the Naira closing at about N288 from N197 at the interbank market, dropping by about 45 percent.

Despite closing at N288, the exchange rate did trade at prices ranging from N197, N235, N255, N280, an indicative of a volatility that exists in the market.

Airlines, thus believe selling tickets when the exchange rate is this volatile could see them incur huge losses.

Tickets are typically set in dollars before being issued at the local currency at an exchange rate that is hitherto determined by the CBN.

 

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