Former Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyo Olagoke Ekpo, apparently displeased by the flight cost variation offered passengers by flight operator, Air Peace, on the Abuja to Calabar air route compared to what Abuja to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, passengers pay, took to the operator’s Twitter handle to voice his displeasure and seemingly got into a subtle row with AirPeace.
Ekpo wrote; “Thanks for the lesson in elementary market economics … No matter how near the time of flight on an Abuja-Uyo purchase, you do not charge 41k (Forty one thousand naira). Yet you charge 41k on Abuja-Calabar even when the flight is clearly not full. So, what exactly are you saying?”
Air Peace replied, “Hi @eyooekpo Thanks for letting us know how you feel about our fares. Kindly be advised that air ticket pricing is dynamic & dictated by a number of factors. One of the biggest factors is how close the reservation is to the flight. The earlier the booking, the cheaper the fare…Kindly see the attached fare to confirm that your position on our fares is incorrect.”
Piqued by the airline’s response, Ekpo fired back, “You’re insulting my intelligence by avoiding the sole factor that determines your company’s behaviour on the Calabar-Abuja route…absence of competition…but that’s ok. Every day cannot be Christmas and the day that is not will surely come.”
When www.calitown.com contacted Ekpo over this seeming spat, he told us that, “we have only just started with them, I agree that they have to make money as a monopoly, but there is just no justification for what they are doing on the Calabar – Abuja route.”