Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said that five indigenous airlines were found guilty of price-fixing during the 2025 Yuletide period.

The commission also declared that the airlines might be asked to refund the excess charges collected from passengers during the peak period.

The Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Dr Tunji Bello, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja in an interaction with State House correspondents.

Though Bello did not mention the names of the airlines found guilty of the offence, the indigenous airlines, through their umbrella body, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), had kicked against the allegation.

According to Bello, the commission’s preliminary investigations revealed that during the period, airfares went as high as N405,0000 to 600,000, a situation he frowned on.

The findings of the forensic investigations released by the commission last month showed that fares recorded during the December peak were materially higher than those observed in the post-peak period across several routes despite relative stability in critical operating variables like fuel price, government taxes and foreign exchange.

But a former President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Olusoji Amusan, in an interview with The Guardian, dismissed the allegation of price-fixing levelled against the domestic operators.

According to him, the fact that airfares were always higher during the Yuletide did not mean they were “unnecessarily high.”
He described the situation as normal, stressing that the law of supply and demand determines the costs of products, including airfares.

MEANWHILE, United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) has ruled out an immediate increase in airfares despite the sharp rise in Jet A1 (aviation fuel) prices in the last one week.

The product now goes for between N1,803.19 per litre, N1,839.19 and N1,852.19 in Lagos, Abuja and Kano airports, respectively.

The prices of aviation fuel have surged by over 100 per cent in over one week, rising from N900 per litre as of February 28, when the crisis between Israel/U.S. and Iran broke out.

As of Monday, a litre of the product was still sold for N1,500 and N1,600, depending on the airport and the major fuel marketer.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UNA, Mazi Osita Okonkwo, in an interview with The Guardian, said the sudden hike in the price of the product, the single largest cost component in airline operations, was placing significant pressure on operators’ finances.

Okonkwo, however, warned that increasing ticket prices at this time could further reduce passenger traffic, which has remained at less than 16 million yearly despite all the projections for increased traffic.

Okonkwo said the airline was struggling to absorb the sudden increase in operating costs, but insisted that the management had yet to consider raising ticket prices.

According to him, the price of aviation fuel had doubled within a week, worsening the operating environment for local carriers.

He noted that while airlines technically had the ability to raise fares, doing so at this time could negatively impact passenger demand.