Airfare Increase: NCAA Challenges Air Peace CEO, Dismisses Tax Allegations

According to him, the airlines acknowledged that they do not remit the levels of taxes being claimed. He said he could not make sense of the figures being circulated but maintained that, given the support domestic carriers have received from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, and the Director General of Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo, there was no justification for repeatedly blaming the government through such claims.

This clarification followed remarks by Air Peace Chairman, Allen Onyema, who noted that many return flights on South-East routes operate with very low passenger numbers, even though airlines must still cover the full cost of both legs of the journey.

Onyema stated that about 65 to 70 per cent of ticket revenue does not go to airlines but is absorbed by levies, taxes, and other charges, describing airlines as bearing a disproportionate burden within the industry. He emphasized that high fares are driven by operational realities rather than exploitation, adding that ticket prices fluctuate based on demand and booking time, with cheaper options available for early purchases. He also observed that Nigeria’s domestic airfares remain comparatively low by global standards.

Achimugu challenged allegations of profiteering, pointing out that there had been no recent increases in taxes or jet fuel prices. He described it as contradictory to claim that Nigerians enjoy some of the lowest domestic airfares worldwide while also defending the sharp rise in ticket prices during December, despite the absence of new cost pressures.

He questioned why fares rose to as much as ₦500,000 for short flights if taxes were supposedly responsible for prices in the ₦150,000–₦200,000 range, noting that those taxes had not changed.

In conclusion, he attributed the December spike in airfares to basic market dynamics, stressing that the increase affects only certain high-demand routes. He noted that similar seasonal price surges occur across other sectors, including road transport, accommodation, and food, and argued that these trends are driven by demand rather than government policy.