The outrage trailing the recent spike in domestic airfares is both understandable and justified. Tickets hitting N400,000 to N500,000 for flights of less than one hour, particularly to Eastern routes, underline a troubling reality: air travel, once a critical connector in a vast country like Nigeria, is fast becoming an elite privilege. In a country where distances are long, roads are dangerous and rail connectivity remains limited, flying should be a practical option for citizens, not a symbol of exclusion.
The protests on social media, as well as the unusually blunt complaints from members of the National Assembly, reflect a wider public frustration. When senators themselves balk at the cost of flying from Abuja to Enugu, Ilorin, Lagos or Kebbi, it is clear that something is deeply amiss. For the average Nigerian worker, civil servant or small business owner, such fares are not merely unaffordable; they are inconceivable. A return ticket priced at hundreds of thousands naira now rivals the cost of international travel in some cases, raising serious questions about equity and access within the country.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is technically correct in stating that aviation operates in a deregulated market and that government does not fix prices for private airlines. However, that argument, though convenient, is incomplete and risks sounding evasive. A government that plays such a dominant role in determining the cost structure of aviation cannot simply wash its hands of the outcome. Deregulation does not absolve responsibility, especially when government policies, charges and inefficiencies significantly inflate operating costs and are ultimately passed on to passengers.
By the airlines’ own admission, more than 50 different charges and levies are imposed by multiple agencies, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Industry operators allege that as many as 18 separate taxes can apply to a single ticket. When taxes, charges and levies reportedly account for over half of the cost of a ticket, it is disingenuous for authorities to claim they are powerless. If government-created costs are driving prices through the roof, then government has both the leverage and the obligation to intervene.
Airlines have also pointed to other undeniable challenges such as exorbitant aviation fuel prices outside Lagos and Abuja, high maintenance costs worsened by foreign exchange pressures, expensive passenger service charges at certain airports, and the inefficiencies of operating routes with low return traffic, especially during peak seasons like Christmas. These realities cannot be dismissed, and airlines cannot be expected to operate at a loss. But neither can these costs be endlessly transferred to passengers without serious policy correction, particularly in a country already grappling with widespread economic hardship.
What makes the situation even more troubling is that Nigerians are not choosing air travel out of luxury or whim. With worsening insecurity on the highways, flying has become a safety-driven necessity. Many travellers save for weeks or months just to avoid the risk of kidnapping, banditry or fatal accidents on the roads. For business people, professionals, families and even public officials, the decision to fly is often a matter of survival rather than convenience. When airfares then climb to half a million naira, the citizen is effectively trapped: unsafe roads below, unaffordable skies above.
This dilemma highlights a broader failure of transport planning and national coordination. Nigeria’s rail system, though improving in pockets, does not yet provide reliable nationwide coverage. Road infrastructure remains overstretched and poorly policed. Inland waterways are underutilised. In such a context, aviation becomes not just a commercial service but a public utility of strategic importance. Treating it purely as a market-driven luxury ignores the realities of national integration, economic productivity and social cohesion.
The current airfare crisis fits squarely into Nigeria’s broader cost-of-living emergency. Food, housing, transport and energy costs are all rising simultaneously, eroding incomes and shrinking opportunities. Inflation has reduced purchasing power, while wages remain largely stagnant. Aviation cannot be treated as an isolated commercial problem when it directly affects national mobility, business efficiency, family life and even security decisions. Excessive airfares increase the cost of doing business, discourage investment in certain regions and deepen regional inequalities.
The way forward is neither price-fixing nor populist grandstanding. What is urgently required is a serious, coordinated review of aviation levies with the aim of streamlining and rationalising them. Multiple overlapping charges must be collapsed into fewer, transparent fees that reflect actual services rendered. The proliferation of agencies collecting fees, often for similar functions, creates inefficiency and inflates costs without necessarily improving safety or service quality.
Where possible, targeted subsidies should be considered particularly on aviation fuel or passenger charges, at under-served airports. Such subsidies need not be permanent, but they can provide temporary relief while broader structural reforms take effect. Government can also incentivise competition on monopoly or near-monopoly routes, especially in the East, where limited operators worsen price pressures. Encouraging more airlines to service these routes, or supporting regional carriers, could help moderate fares over time.
Beyond levies and fuel, government must address the foreign exchange challenges facing airlines. Maintenance, spare parts and leasing are largely dollar-denominated, making airlines vulnerable to currency volatility. A more stable and predictable forex policy for the aviation sector, possibly through special windows or support mechanisms, would reduce uncertainty and operating costs.
Aviation policy must ultimately balance market principles with public interest. Left entirely to its harshest logic, the market will simply exclude most Nigerians from air travel. That outcome is neither sustainable nor acceptable in a country of Nigeria’s size, diversity and aspirations. Mobility is not a luxury; it is a catalyst for economic growth, national unity and social inclusion.
If the Federal Government truly wants to ease the burden on citizens, it must look beyond technical explanations and confront the structural drivers of these outrageous fares. Streamlining taxes, reducing inefficiencies, improving security on roads and strengthening alternative transport modes are all part of the solution. Flying should not become another symbol of exclusion in a nation already straining under economic hardship. Instead, it should remain what it was always meant to be: a bridge that connects Nigerians, not a barrier that divides them.
