Air fares on major routes have gone up by over 300 per cent in the last two years, making air transportation inaccessible to average Nigerians, analyses by Daily Trust have shown.

The result is also reflected in the shrinking passengers’ figure in the domestic market in recent times.

A report done by Daily Trust in June 2023, shortly after the removal of fuel subsidy from the premium motor spirit (PMS) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, indicated that the average cost of an Abuja-Lagos flight, the busiest route in Nigeria today, was N50,000.

Checks on the website of some of the domestic airlines at the time indicated that a one-way Lagos-Abuja ticket was N48,000 on Arik Air, N50,000 on Dana; N55,000 on Ibom Air; N50,000 on Max Air, 49,714 on ValueJet and N45,000 on Air Peace.

Two years later, the same fare has increased by over 300 per cent with an average cost of a one-way Lagos-Abuja or Abuja-Lagos ticket selling above N150,000.

At the time of filing this report, a one-way flight from Lagos to Abuja on Air Peace was between N125,000 and N168,000; Ibom Air – 152,000 and 171,000; Max Air – N115,000 and N140,000; ValueJet – N145 and N189,000 and Aero Contractors – N135,000 and N162,000.

Daily Trust reports that a passenger could pay as much as N250,000 for a one-way ticket depending on the time of travel.

Also, some underserved airports with fewer airlines could be much more expensive to fly to. For instance, passengers flying to the Tunde Idiagbon International Airport, Ilorin, decried what they called the exorbitant fares to the airport.

Also, Lagos-Kano; Lagos-Enugu; Lagos-Port Harcourt, among others are some of the routes whose ticket prices have gone up in the last two years amidst the economic downturn and inflationary trend in Nigeria

More aircraft, air fares remain high

With the poor state of road and insecurity ravaging the country amidst fears of kidnapping, road trips have become a risky venture, forcing many Nigerians to curtail their movements as air travel is being been priced beyond the reach of an average Nigerian.

The situation is made worse with the holiday season just around the corner.

Daily Trust observed that air fares throughout December have ballooned.

A passenger who simply identified herself as Mrs. Charles said she was trying to book a flight to Asaba and the least she got was over N600,000, for a return ticket while the highest was N750,000 for a flight.

“I plan to travel to Asaba, Delta State, by December 17 and I have checked all flights to the state and the fare is outrageous. I don’t know, I may have to cancel the trip or travel by road even though I know it is not safe.

“How can you cough out more than half a million naira for a return ticket? Isn’t that outrageous? What is really happening,” she asked.

Apart from the Lagos-Asaba, which is priced at N750,000 for a return flight, fares to other routes have equally ballooned.

For instance, Lagos to Enugu cost N335,000 for a one-way ticket for a trip between December 15 and 17; another airline advertised N286,000 for the same route.

Domestic airlines’ industry

In the last five years, Nigeria has had more airlines. While new airlines have been established, some have suspended operations in recent times.

Nigeria now has 15 operating domestic airlines; including Air Peace, Arik Air, Aero Contractors, Max Air, United Nigeria, ValueJet, Ibom Air, Rano Air, Overland Airways, Green Africa, Xejet and Umza Air.

Dana Air, Azman and Med-View Airlines recently suspended operations.

Despite having more airlines now; compared to five, six years ago when only eight domestic airlines were operating, the passengers’ figure has shrunk significantly.

The Acting Managing Director of Ibom Air, George Uriesi, recently raised an alarm over what he called depleting passenger figures, saying this is a major cause for concern.

The Ibom Air boss confirmed that traffic has been dwindling since 2022, saying the situation is getting worse and efforts must be made to attract more passengers to fly.

“We are down by 27% from 2024. We are in trouble, we have to find a way to get people flying again,” he said.

Daily Trust gathered that behind this dwindling passengers’ drop is the sharp rise in prices of tickets.

While IATA, the clearing house for global airlines, describes aviation, considered the fastest means of transportation, as a business of freedom, that freedom has been curtailed for Nigerians amidst increasing flight tickets.

NBS confirms fare increase

Since 2023, data revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown a steady rise in air transport fare.

According to the Transport Fare Watch released by the NBS, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes for a single journey was N89,432.43 in May 2024.

Also, the bureau in another report revealed that the average fare paid by air passengers on single journey for specified routes was N130,243.90 in April, 2025, showing an increase of 1.41% from the previous month (March 2025), while the year-on-year increase was 10.94% compared to April 2024.

IATA’s verdict

IATA, in a report released last month on the value of air transport to Nigeria’s economy based on data collected in 2023/24, said aviation in Nigeria directly employs 39,500 people, contributing $2.5 billion, which represents 0.7% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The association also observed the increasing cost of flights in Nigeria.

The report said, “The cost of flying impacts the magnitude of the benefits that can be generated by air travel. In the past 50 years, flight costs have decreased by 70% globally, making air transport more accessible.

“The average real airfare in Nigeria decreased by 43.6 per cent between 2011 and 2023, with the local population now needing to work 37.6 days to afford a plane ticket. Overall, 40 flights per 1,000 population were taken in 2023.

“Aviation stimulates global trade and investment, enables labour and capital productivity improvements, boosts innovation, and fosters knowledge exchange. The movement of goods, enabled by the air transport industry, brings about improved economic outcomes via catalytic collaboration, specialisation, and more efficient allocation of resources across all sectors of the local and world economy,” it said.

IATA added that air connectivity “is fundamental to unlocking a country’s economic growth potential and prosperity; it enables industries across all regions within the country to engage in dynamic business activity.”

IATA further observed that since 2014, “Nigeria’s international air connectivity index has decreased by 1.5% within the Africa region and by 21% with all other regions.”

“Understanding the nature of that connectivity is also important. For Nigeria, 1% of all passengers arriving internationally continued their journey on a domestic connection.

“98% of passengers either finished their journey at the point of entry to the country or continued traveling using a different mode of transport. One per cent of all passengers arriving in Nigeria from abroad continued their journey to a destination in another country,” the report stated.

Nigerians abandon air travel

Daily Trust reports that the NBS’s rebased GDP report had shown steady increase in economic performance.

On Monday, July 21, 2025, it released its report for the first quarter of 2025, indicating that the economy grew by 3.13 per cent from the 2.27 per cent recorded in the same period in 2024.

Also, the third quarter report released last week also showed that economy grew by 3.98% (year-on-year) in real terms.

However, while many sectors continue to perform well, aviation is among three sectors that contracted.

The analysis of the first quarter data indicated that top-performing sectors are financial services [15.3%], oil refining [11.51%], transportation [14.08], ICT [7.4%], and metal ores [25%].

“The following sectors contracted: Livestock [-16.7%], fishing [-0.21%], textiles [-1.63], coal mining [-22.3%], quarry & minerals [-21.55%], plastics and rubber [-3.2%], iron & steel [-0.35%], air transport [-0.81%].”

Sectors in recession include; air transport, textiles, and coal mining, after consistent contraction over the past few quarters.

According to the figure, road transportation now offers a cheaper alternative for most Nigerians since air transportation is not within their reach.

Many Nigerians have decided to embark on road trips despite the risk and the danger of kidnapping which has become a recurring decimal on Nigerian roads.

A recent report indicated that Nigerians paid N2.56bn as ransom to kidnappers in the last one year, highlighting the security concerns with road trips.

December booking takes flight

Ahead of this year’s Yuletide, our correspondent learnt that air fares have already skyrocketed especially on the Eastern routes.

A passenger lamented that he paid over N700,000 for a return trip from Lagos to Owerri.

There was a trending video recently when a passenger complained that two adults and three kids were charged N3.1m for a trip to the South East this December despite booking ahead.

“I was expecting N2m or N2.3m. What is happening? This does not make sense to me,” the lady cried out.

“Last year, we got Abuja-Owerri return tickets for my wife and I with four kids for N3m. I tried booking the same trip this week with Air Peace and they are telling me to pay N357,000 per trip with a total of N4.2m,” another traveller, Pol Ajunwa said.

A check on the websites of some of the airlines indicated that Lagos-Owerri goes for 355,000 for one-way; Lagos-Asaba – 385,100; Lagos-Port Harcourt; N287,800; Lagos-Yenagoa, N360,499; Lagos-Enugu, N499,998.

Expert speaks

Speaking with our correspondent, Aviation analyst, Capt. Samuel Caulcrick, stated that aviation is supposed to be a catalyst for the economic development of Nigeria.

However, he stated that aviation has become the mode of transportation for only the elite, adding that this is not supposed to be so.

He said, “Nigerians earning minimum wage cannot even go near airports. The ticket prices have cut off so many families.

“All over the world, aviation is subsidised one way or the other. It is only here that we see aviation as being for the elite. Aviation is supposed to be a catalyst for economic development. So, it depends on how the people in government or the general public see aviation. Here, we just see it as for the elite.

“Aviation generally is not for the elite. It is to catalyse the economy. Unless we realise that, we will continue to have problems.

“What is happening doesn’t show that aviation is essential for the economic development of this country. We should let the government know that it is to develop the economy and we must say what we can do to see that aviation does not collapse”, he said.

Caulcrick, who is a former Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), stated that aviation is subsidised all over the world to ensure cheaper air fares.

“Our narratives are not the best. We need a narrative that would force the government to say what can we do to make sure aviation doesn’t collapse and that the only way by which the industry will not collapse is when more people travel,” he said.

Providing an insight into the current situation, the General Secretary of the Aviation Roundtable and Safety Initiative, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo said, “The rate of the dollar to the naira made the ticket fares skyrocket and in skyrocketing, passengers also abandoned air transportation. Also, the inflation that followed it made the tickets extremely high”.

Another aviation stakeholder, Alhaji Bello Salihu, attributed the hike to multiple taxes paid by airlines.

He stated that the components of the air fare must be looked into, saying it is only a fraction of the fare that goes to the airline.

Salihu, who is the CEO of Butake Resources Limited, a ground handling company said, “The taxation is too obvious. You pay fuel charge, you pay service charge, you pay PSC (Passenger Service Charge), the core fare is less than 60 per cent of the total money they are taking from passengers.

“The core money that goes to the airline is less and that is why it is very demanding. So, many variables constitute an air fare in Nigeria and for that reason air fares would continue to be high and the number of passengers would continue to be less.

“It is unfortunate. The unions need to look at this. We should look at the components that constitute an air fare ticket. It is also tied again to the element of dollars.”

Dr. Alex Nwuba, Vice-President of Aviation Roundtable, called for harmonisation of the charges, “If you look at the cost of your ticket, you would find that over 70 per cent of the cost is related to taxes and charges. The air fare portion is actually low. The federal government needs to review the charges.

“If you look at it, we pay 17 per cent more for fuel charges and fuel constitutes over 40 of airline’s operating cost. So, we have got to reimagine that. If you have service providers charging this amount, you have airports charging this amount and the worst part of it is that 50 per cent of the amount the airports earn is taken away by the federal government at source through the Treasury Single Account (TSA). So they are only left with 50% to provide the services…,” he added.

Nigerian airlines still the cheapest – AON

Spokesman of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Professor Obiora Okonkwo, in a chat with our correspondent insisted that when compared with air fares in other climes, Nigerian airlines still charge cheap air fares.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on it part, clarified that air fares are determined by market forces.

The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer, Mr. Michael Achimugu, in a chat with our correspondent, reiterated that no civil aviation authority (CAA) anywhere in the world regulates air fares.

“It is usually determined by market forces,” he said. (Daily Trust)

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