The Federal Government, through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has announced ongoing efforts to reduce the high cost of air tickets for both domestic and international travel while also enhancing airport safety and security. Speaking at the Ministerial Press Briefing on Thursday in Abuja, Keyamo highlighted key factors driving expensive fares, including limited access to affordable aircraft leasing, trapped funds of foreign airlines, and high airport taxes. He noted that Nigerian airlines face challenges in securing aircraft leases at competitive rates, often resorting to costly leasing or outright purchases, which ultimately impacts ticket prices. “We have domestic tickets and we have international tickets. I talked about domestic tickets and the fact that we don’t have access to lease aircraft at a very cheap cost. We will only go for the very expensive option of leasing aircraft or buying aircraft. We are addressing that. We will see the results very soon with the Cape Town Convention and the Dublin Conference we are going to. The deals are coming in, so we will see the results then,” he said. On improvements in security gaps, he said, “We are happy to report that Abuja and Lagos International Airport also achieved a recertification and in recertifying it, they closed more than 130 gaps at Abuja and Lagos airport. And so there’s a lot of improvement in terms of safety and security in those airports,” Keyamo stated.