Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, has called into question the purported attempt by strong companies on the Lagos-London route to stifle healthy competition, which is being caused by the advent of Air Peace.
Ezekwesili stated that as soon as it has all the information, the aviation industry’s market regulator has to stop the main airlines’ predatory actions on the Lagos-London route.
In any competitive market, the former Minister emphasized, unfriendly pricing structures are predatory and are typically prohibited and sanctioned by the market regulator.
Her remarks follow the concern expressed by Allen Onyema, the Chairman of Nigeria’s domestic carrier Air Peace, that foreign airlines running the Nigeria-UK route were allegedly planning to send Air Peace out of international operations by crashing airfares on the route.
According to Onyema, foreign carriers have a “unspoken alliance” to utilize cheaper prices to drive Air Peace off the Nigeria-London route.
“This country will pay dearly for it ten times over, billions will be lost, and there will be another heavy strain on the naira if they take out Air Peace prematurely,” he declared.
In response, Ezekwesili wrote on her X Twitter on Wednesday that she was disturbed by the most recent developments, which show that the main companies on the Lagos-London route seem to be attempting to stifle the beneficial competition brought about by Air Peace’s entry into the market.
She declared: “I followed the @flyairpeace Lagos-London route entry with profound interest and excitement as one who loves the market competition economic model.”
In the market for goods or services, nothing compares to customer happiness. Nigerians may not all understand that government control has not always served us better than market principles, but they do appreciate it when it does, like in the case of telecommunications.
“In every competitive market, hostile pricing methods are predatory and are typically prohibited and approved by the market regulator. The practice of leading airlines attempting to prevent low-cost or regional players from entering the market is known as predatory pricing.
This is the reason I find it concerning that the leading companies on the Lagos-London route now seem to be attempting to stifle the beneficial competition brought about by Air Peace’s arrival into the market.
“Once the regulator has all the information, the actions of those major airlines on that route seem predatory and need to be stopped right now.
“Serious regulatory action is warranted for the harmful development; gather information and take appropriate action.
“The dynamics of the market must be permitted to function in accordance with the fundamental ideas of competition and not predation that will ultimately hurt the customers.”