INCLUSIVE FARE ADVERT EARNS FASTJET PRAISE WITH CONSUMERS
(Posted 26th September 2015)
The exposure of regulatory fees and taxes, shown in Fastjet’s latest ticket cost advert in Tanzania and Malawi, has been widely welcomed by consumer groups as a move towards embracing Western advertising standards to show inclusive rather than exclusive prices. The airline yesterday launched a US Dollars 69 all-inclusive one way ticket from Dar es Salaam to Malawi’s Lilongwe, available on their two weekly flights and as long as booked long enough in advance, aimed to stimulate traffic between the two countries.
Fares between Dar es Salaam and Lilongwe are now available from just $69 one way including tax ($20 fare, plus $49 tax), or Tsh 151,800 one way including tax (Tsh 44,000 fare, plus Tsh 107,800 tax).
The advert also however once again exposed the impact fees and taxes have on the final cost of travel for passengers, as the fare of US Dollars 20 then rises to a ticket cost of US Dollars 69, when a whopping 49 US Dollars tax and fee element is added.
Regulators in the Eastern African region but broadly speaking across the continent have for long gotten away with their high fee and taxation policies when airlines built in those charges into their ticket cost and if at all shown relegated to the small print somewhere. Now, with such tax elements being made visible, will no doubt public pressure grow on regulators and airport operators to take a fresh look at such charges, in particular for domestic and regional African travel, to make access to air transport more affordable on a much broader basis.
‘When Fastjet talks of democratizing travel by air they were not joking. Normally they charge the 20 Dollar fare on domestic flights but then add on the taxes of course. For their regional routes their base fare is 50 US Dollars and like before with Entebbe they now have lowered that for Lilongwe to just 20 US Dollars for advance bookings. I remember conferences where aviation authorities like to sing their own song about how much they do to promote air transport but when you look at the 20 and then the 49 Dollars it hardly makes sense. They have to do a lot more than just talk after people wake up to the reality how much taxes they pay on tickets’ made a regular contributor from Dar es Salaam his consternation known. Two other sources, when confronted with these figures, equally suggested that, were the regulators which set the tax levels compelled by governments to lower these taxes for domestic and intra African air- travel, the number of travelers going the safer way by air as opposed to the often hazardous travel by road would significantly grow, helping to better utilize aviation infrastructure. Fodder for thought no doubt
