L
LequteMan
Guest
Foreign airlines in the country are ripping off Nigerians and the federal government by taking advantage of the shortage of dollars in the foreign exchange market, and the gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate, ThisDay reports.
According to an informed source: “We (foreign and domestic airlines) buy dollars at the CBN rate, and all our airfares are priced in dollars for the purpose of comparison.
“But the problem is that foreign airlines use the parallel market rate to determine the naira airfare for passengers who opt to pay for the tickets in naira.
“By doing this, they are cheating Nigerians and the federal government because by collecting the money from passengers at the parallel market rate, why do they want CBN to give them dollars at the official rate when they need to repatriate to their countries? They might as well source their dollars from the parallel market.”
In particular, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways have been accused of engaging in the sharp practice, which reportedly accounts for the astronomical and inexplicable hike in their airfares in recent months. Both airlines have denied this.
Read full story
According to an informed source: “We (foreign and domestic airlines) buy dollars at the CBN rate, and all our airfares are priced in dollars for the purpose of comparison.
“But the problem is that foreign airlines use the parallel market rate to determine the naira airfare for passengers who opt to pay for the tickets in naira.
“By doing this, they are cheating Nigerians and the federal government because by collecting the money from passengers at the parallel market rate, why do they want CBN to give them dollars at the official rate when they need to repatriate to their countries? They might as well source their dollars from the parallel market.”
In particular, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways have been accused of engaging in the sharp practice, which reportedly accounts for the astronomical and inexplicable hike in their airfares in recent months. Both airlines have denied this.
Read full story
