Louis Ibah
Two local carriers, Aero Contractors and Arik Airlines have announced a huge reduction in their air fares as part of measures to assist air travelers return to their bases to vote in the rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly as well as the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections holding across the country on February 23, 2019 and March 9, 2019 respectively.
Chief Executive Officers for both airlines announced the cuts in economy class air tickets to N16,000 from an average of about N24,000 to N40,000 which most Nigerian passengers pay to fly within the country. To benefit from fare promo, passengers must show evidence of their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), and the airline must confirm the name and photo identity on the PVC corresponds with the flyer.
“We have put this promotional fare in place to ameliorate the effect of the postponement on the traveling public and to encourage voter participation,” said Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu said.
“The N16, 000 promotional fare is the one-way ticket cost to any domestic destination on Arik Air’s network and customers must present a valid Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) at the point of purchase and at check in to be eligible to fly,” Ilegbodu added.
The Arik Air N16,000 air fare is available for sale from Monday, February 18, 2019 to Tuesday, March 11, 2019 for travel between Thursday, February 21 and Tuesday, February 26, 2019 as well as between Thursday, March 7, 2019 and Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
For its part, Aero Contractors said its promo fares will run as from Monday, February 18, 2019 for travels between February 21 and 25 of 2019.
“Aero has cut its fares by about 50 per cent to support Nigerians to travel without spending so much, and this is an incentive to the citizens to carry out their civil responsibility during the elections,” the airline said.
Aero Contractors flies to Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Warri, Asaba, Uyo and Sokoto and has said that this is its own contribution to support Nigeria conduct successful election and also to encourage the citizens to travel to where they can cast their votes.
The two airlines are under the receivership of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and with a majority share holding by the Federal Government.