THE row between Nigeria and Britain over disparity in airfares for flights from Nigeria and other West African countries to London is capable of boiling over into a deep diplomatic face-off unless the authorities do the needful.

Currently, passengers flying into London and other European cities from Nigerian airports pay higher fares than those flying to same destinations, on same class of tickets, from Ghana and other West African countries. This has forced some Nigerian passengers to connect European cities via Ghana because of cheaper fares obtained there.

While British Airways (BA) charges $10,070 for a First Class ticket from Abuja to London, a similar flight from Accra to London is $4,943. An Abuja-London premium economy ticket on BA attracts $3,208 fare while Accra-London is $2,240.

Also, the Economy ticket from Abuja on the same flight goes for $2,840 and from Accra it is $2,156. Virgin Atlantic charges $4,173 and $2,956 for its Lagos-London Premium Economy and Economy tickets respectively. BA and VA control about 90 percent of all passenger traffic to and from the United Kingdom.

Virtually all the foreign airlines such as BA, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, KLM and Alitalia are guilty of the fare disparity and maltreatment of Nigerian passengers with BA being the major culprit.

The Federal Government on March 26 handed the affected foreign airlines a 30-day ultimatum to review downwards their discriminatory fares or face sanctions.

The issue had been lingering for some time and following complaints from Nigeria, most of the airlines, last year promised to conduct a study on airfare pricing in West Africa, determine fair fares and report back to the country’s Aviation Minister on or before December 31, 2011. Sadly, they have not done this.

The National Assembly and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) are among Nigerian institutions, which have thrown their weight behind the Princess Stella Oduah-led Ministry of Aviation’s 30-day ultimatum for the airlines to reduce their fares or face severe sanctions.

Losing flights to Nigeria could come at a great cost to foreign carriers. Lagos’ international airport, a major hub for West Africa, saw 2.3 million passengers pass through it in 2009.

Among the foreign airlines, BA’s case is further worsened by the maltreatment of Nigeria’s Arik Air in London where it was at a time denied landing slots at Heathrow Airport and made to pay outlandish charges contrary to the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) signed by Nigeria and Britain in 1958. Arik Air had been forced to buy or rent landing slots from another private company, British Midland International (BMI) for which it has had to pay heavily since 2009.

More than issuing ultimatum, however, the latest imbroglio needs to be handled holistically. Obviously, the BASA agreements have to be re-negotiated as outright ban is bound to hurt all stakeholders.

We strongly support the measures taken by the government so far and applaud the growing tendency of the Goodluck Jonathan regime to stand up for the rights of Nigerians to freedom from oppression and exploitation by our supposed international friends and their diplomatic and business interests.