President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria (OPAN), Dr Alex Nwuba, says the sharp increase in domestic airfares ahead of the Christmas season is driven almost entirely by demand, insisting that Nigerians are “paying the price for waiting till the last minute” rather than being exploited by airlines.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Nwuba said: “It’s not new. Every year it’s the same. Prices go up at Christmas time. The forces of economics are at play. It’s a demand-driven price increase and it’s compensation for low fares during the low season.”
He noted that although lawmakers have accused airlines of exploiting travellers, the reality is that everyone — including operators themselves — is affected.
“If it’s exploitation, I also pay those high fares. Everybody’s paying them. It’s simply driven by the season,”he said.
Explaining how airfare pricing works, Nwuba said:
“There are a lot more people looking to buy tickets and the prices have been pushed up. All of us had the opportunity to buy these same tickets in October when the prices were low, but we waited till the last minute, and we’re paying the price for that. The demand is very high.”
He added that airline revenue management systems automatically increase fares as seats sell out:
“Airlines sell tickets in buckets. When you buy them way in advance, you buy much cheaper.
“As the aeroplane begins to fill up, the prices go up. With the first few seats sold, they’re sold cheaply, and as the number of seats gets sold, the prices go up. People paying these high prices shouldn’t be buying tickets in December — they should have bought them in October.”
On concerns raised by the Minister of Aviation that a lack of aircraft and competition is worsening the situation, Nwuba argued that demand was still the main pressure point.
“Aviation doesn’t look to preserve prices to the point where only the elite fly. Nigeria had 15 million passengers with a population of 200 to 300 million — just 0.02 per cent of the population. In the US and Europe, volumes are many times the population, and those volumes drive down prices,”he said.
According to him, even with new airlines entering the market, the December surge overwhelms available capacity.
“Three new airlines sprang up before this season, they introduced their seats, but prices kept going up because millions more people want to fly in December. I’m flying tomorrow and I’m paying double what I used to pay. Nobody has special privileges.”
He also linked high fares to the devaluation of the naira and rising operational costs.
“If you look at a fare today of ₦300,000, it’s about $200. It’s almost the same dollar price you were paying in the 90s, but the naira has devalued so much that fares look extremely high,” he said.
Airlines, he stressed, are not interested in high prices but are forced to cover heavy cost burdens.
“The airlines don’t want these high prices. They want more people to fly. But they have to cover a tremendous amount of cost. We pay 17 per cent more in Nigeria for fuel. Service providers are reporting double-digit profits and the airlines are barely making any money,” he said.
Nwuba called for a full review of aviation charges to bring relief to travellers.
“What needs to be done is a comprehensive overhaul of the aviation system — the charges from handling companies, fuelers, taxes and all kinds of additional charges. Government has agreed regionally to lower these charges, and you should see lower prices in the new year,” he said.
He concluded that the current wave of high fares is simply a consequence of timing:
“People waited too late to buy their tickets, and they are paying the premium prices. It’s not exploitation as we think of it.”
Boluwatife Enome
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