By Francis Ogwo
There was a sharp reduction in revenue from ticket sales in Nigeria due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as total tickets sold for the first quarter of 2020 dropped to $151 million from $282.35 million recorded in 2019.
Reports say the drastic reduction affected foreign carriers that operated in and out of the country within the period.
These details were made public by the President, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, at a press conference on Tuesday.
She gave details from the “BSP Nigeria-R &S Monthly Reports – Market Data April 2020,” which showed that $57.79 million worth of tickets were sold in January 2019 alone.
According to the report, ticket sales figures for February of the same year stood at $51.52 million; March $80.55 million; April $92.59 million bringing the total to $286.36 million.
January 2020 figure was regarded as the best month for air travel and one that surpassed the expectations of travel agencies and other catalytic interests in aviation and travel industry as the month saw high travel demand that amounted to $70.03 million.
For February 2020, ticket sales stood at $59.16 million; March figure stood at $23.26 million when the COVID-19 got to its peak and nations started closing their borders, including restrictions that crippled travel.
April 2020 saw a sharp decline of air travel as tickets sold amounted to $-1.36, a deficit for that month as the BSP recorded more refunds than new sales in April.
Due to this, the month of April became negative. The total tickets sold for first quarter 2020 decreased to $151 million.
Akporiaye lamented that COVID-19 brought the entire sector to a halt, stressing that January 2020 was one of the best months for aviation because of huge sales made by foreign carriers.
She said the sales had never happened in recent times because the first quarter of every year is usually slow for business, but expressed joy that the month was good.
Speaking further, Akporiaye stated that February of last year was also good till second week in March when nations started taking measures to limit the spread of Coronavirus by shutting borders.
She also spoke on the scuffle between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as she berated the Arab country over the controversial Rapid Antigen Testing (RDT), saying it was not a full-proof for detection, adding that the PCR test was more comprehensive and far better than the Antigen test, which she said puts a lot of strain on travellers with additional costs.
Recall that the Aviation sector had counted huge losses in the wake of the pandemic due to closure of the airports. The huge economic impacts led to pay cuts, job losses among other effects.
