The effects of COVID-19 on air travel and its attendant effects on the country and economy was made manifest as total tickets sold for the first quarter of 2020 decreased by $151 million.
This is a sharp reduction to $282.35 million sold in 2019 by foreign carriers that operated in and out of the country.
Data obtained from the the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), captioned, “BSP Nigeria-R &S Monthly Reports-Market Data April 2020”, a breakdown of the figure shows that $57.79 million worth of tickets were sold in January 2019 alone. 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.
In contrast, the 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 demanded that amounted to $70.03 million.
February 2020 saw ticket sales of $59.16 million; March figure stood at $23.26 million when the COVID-19 pandemic 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 million, a deficit for that month as the BSP recorded more refunds than new sales in April. As a result of that, the month of April became negative.
The total tickets sold for first quarter 2020 decreased to $151 million.
President, NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye at a press conference Tuesday lamented that the 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.
