Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have excluded Nigeria from their current promotional fares, despite offering discounts on routes to several other countries.

While both airlines recently advertised the promotions on their websites and sent emails to customers, Nigerian routes are not included in these offers, according to BusinessDay.

“I have always said that foreign airlines rip Nigerians off when the opportunity comes. Remember that legacy airlines sold a Lagos-London economy class return ticket for as high as N5 million, but as soon as Air Peace started the route, the airlines slashed fares,” a travel agent, who would not want her name mentioned, told BusinessDay.

British Airways’ message on the promo to customers read, “It’s your lucky day folks. Another mahoosive sale from one of your fave airlines is hot off the tarmac and it’s a good one. British Airways are dropping prices on routes across their huge network, so now’s the time to get something in the basket pronto. Another thanks to their handy partnership with American airlines. Even more of the USA is on offer.”

British Airways has included popular destinations such as the London-Dubai route, Orlando, Los Angeles, Barbados, Cancun, and Sydney in their current promotional fares.

British Airways is offering a promotional fare for an 11-hour-15-minute London-Los Angeles economy class return ticket at €359, which would cost N574,400 at an exchange rate of N1,600 to the euro.

For a seven-hour London-Dubai economy class return ticket priced at €453, the cost would be N724,800 with the same exchange rate.

A nine-hour-30-minute London-Orlando economy class return ticket on British Airways is priced at €377, which equals N603,200.

Meanwhile, a nine-hour London-Barbados economy class return ticket costs €496, amounting to N793,600 at the same exchange rate of N1,600 to the euro.

However, these discounted fares are not available on the Nigerian route, as it is excluded from the current promotions by British Airways.

“First of all, let’s start with economics. What is the economy of running a promo? You only run a promo when sales are not good. You don’t run a promo when sales are good. So, Nigeria market remains a viable destination. Why are you running promo? How can you run a promo when your aircraft is full?

“Are you going to put people on the back of the plane? So, the Nigerian market is a market that is paying them, so they may not see any need to run promo here,” Bernard said.

It was reported last month that airlines operating between Nigeria and Europe reduced fares due to the low travel season.

However, with the rise in demand ahead of the summer travel period, fares are now increasing.