EDITORIAL: Why flying shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg

EDITOON: When the budget of a 50-yr-old democratic nation is still pegged to beer and cigarette tax increases, the topic of how much flights cost can feel like a bit of a luxury... ART | KINYA

What you need to know:

  • The flight distance between Dar and Johannesburg is 2,448km—four times the distance between Julius Nyerere International Airport and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
  • However, for a flight to Johannesburg today, a traveller will cough up about $51 higher than someone flying between Nairobi and Dar.

Flying from one place to another in Tanzania, East Africa and the rest of Africa has become unduly expensive.

The distance between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, for instance, is just 670km, yet a return ticket between the two cities costs some $600 (Sh1,008,000). 

And we are talking about a mere one hour-trip costing the approximate equivalent of a return ticket from Dar es Salaam to Amsterdam!

The flight distance between Dar and Johannesburg is 2,448km—four times the distance between Julius Nyerere International Airport and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

However, for a flight to Johannesburg today, a traveller will cough up about $51 higher than someone flying between Nairobi and Dar.

Aviation stakeholders say high operating costs, too many taxes, expensive fuel and low competition among airlines are among the reasons that make air travel such an expensive adventure in East Africa. 

Granted airlines are commercial firms that have to operate profitably, and not charitable entities like the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

But then, the profit motive should be pursued rationally, an ideal that is undermined when an airline charges, for a Nairobi-Dar flight, an amount similar or close to what a Johannesburg-Dar flight costs.

It is obvious some airlines are manipulating their monopoly status to overcharge hapless customers.

That explains why at one time, the Entebbe-Nairobi route was the most expensive route in the region.  

Uganda has no functioning national or private airline. Tanzania’s national airline is struggling, while private ones are also facing difficulties.

As a result the entire region depends either on Kenya Airways or some foreign airlines.

This gives the leeway for the one that dominates the market to set charges with little regard to their impact on customers.

This bad situation should be sorted out, primarily because the East African region can’t have a vibrant economy if aerial movement of its people remains an exclusive adventure for the elite.