Sudan’s international flight prices also increase

Prices of airline tickets abroad have amounted to unprecedented numbers, after the lifting of fuel subsidies by the Sudanese government.

The air transport services of the Civil Aviation Corporation issued a publication on Wednesday, requesting the airlines in Sudan to adopt the new rate of the Sudanese Pound against the US Dollar as SDG15.90, for both international passenger tickets as transport of goods. The former rate was set at SDG 6.

One of the owners of a travel agency in Khartoum said that under the new price, the return ticket price to Cairo with a Sudanese travel agency would increase to more than SDG16,000 ($2,450). In comparison, a return ticket Khartoum-Cairo now costs between $370 and $600 with international agencies.

Domestic flight tickets already went up in price by more than 10 percent last week. A flight from El Geneina in West Darfur to Khartoum costs $278. The Sudanese Parliament's Transport Committee summoned the Chamber of Air Transportation to question them about the rise of prices of internal flights. The deputy chairman of the Chamber explained that fuel at domestic airports is much higher than at Khartoum Airport.

Economist have predicted that there will be a wave of sharp price rises in the markets during the coming months after the Dollar’s rise versus the Pound, combined with the increase in power tariffs and the liberalisation of the fuel market, measures that have been put into effect since 4 November.

The acute shortage of foreign currencies in the state's treasury has led to the decrease of the Sudanese Pound against the Dollar in the currency market ranging these days between 17.50 and 18 Pounds.