The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has alleged that some domestic airlines engaged in price manipulation during the December 2025 festive season, revealing that ticket price differences on certain routes reached as high as N405,000.
In an interim report released by its Surveillance and Investigations Department, the Commission said a forensic review of fare data collated directly from airlines showed that prices during the December peak travel period were materially higher than those recorded in January 2026, despite relative stability in key operating variables such as aviation fuel costs, government taxes and foreign exchange rates.
Ondaje Ijagwu, the FCCPC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, said the preliminary findings indicate that the fare spikes appear to reflect arbitrary pricing decisions, including yield management and capacity allocation strategies, rather than changes in regulatory fees or cost drivers. On high-density routes, peak fares were clustered within narrow ranges across multiple operators, raising concerns about potential anti-competitive behaviour.
According to the report, routes such as Abuja–Port Harcourt recorded peak fares several times higher than post-holiday levels, with the difference for a single ticket on selected corridors reaching approximately N405,000. While acknowledging that seasonal demand surges, scheduling constraints and fleet utilisation can influence ticket pricing during peak periods, the Commission said the scale and pattern of increases observed exceed what such factors would reasonably justify.
The interim findings flagged possible violations of Sections 59, 72, 107, 108, 124 and 127 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, which address restraint of competition, abuse of dominant position, price-fixing, conspiracy and unfair consumer practices.
Responding to the report, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), through its spokesperson Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, dismissed the Commission’s conclusions, arguing that the FCCPC lacks the technical expertise to assess airline pricing models. He described the investigation as detrimental to domestic operators and insisted that airline economics are complex and not fully understood by external regulators.
The FCCPC’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tunji Bello, emphasised that the document remains an interim report and that further structural and route-level analysis is ongoing. He said the Commission’s mandate is to promote competition and protect consumers, not to disrupt legitimate commercial activities, and that any enforcement action would be based strictly on established facts at the conclusion of the review.
Bello also disclosed that foreign airlines operating in Nigeria will soon face similar scrutiny, following complaints that Nigerian passengers are charged significantly higher fares on certain international routes compared to travellers in neighbouring countries covering comparable distances. The planned probe will assess whether exploitative pricing or anti-competitive conduct exists in the international segment of the market.
The Commission signalled that no operator, domestic or foreign, would be shielded if evidence confirms fare fixing or consumer exploitation, as it moves to ensure transparency and fairness in Nigeria’s aviation industry.
