A year ago, booking local flights still felt like a stretch, but it was doable. You complained a little, paid your ₦60,000 or ₦80,000 ticket, and moved on. Now, it feels like a punch to the chest.

Open any airline website today, and the shock comes fast. Lagos to Asaba showing over ₦300,000 one way. Lagos to Owerri, Port Harcourt, Benin, and Uyo all sit around the same range, depending on the date. Return trips creeping up to ₦600,000 or ₦700,000. For routes that barely cross an hour in the air, many tickets now cost more than what international West African flights used to go for.

This is not a rumour or social media exaggeration. During the festive booking rush, some travellers saw Lagos–Asaba tickets listed at about ₦337,500 for a single seat. Lawmakers investigating pricing practices say they have encountered domestic one-way fares between ₦500,000 and ₦650,000. These numbers would have sounded impossible not too long ago. Today, they are becoming familiar.

In just two years, domestic airfares in Nigeria have risen by over 300 percent. For salary earners whose incomes have barely moved while inflation bites deeper every month, flying is sliding out of reach. What used to feel expensive but manageable now feels completely out of touch with reality.

Fuel, aircraft shortages, insecurity, and the cost spiral

The crisis starts with fuel. Jet A1 now sells for about ₦1,315 per litre, and it has become the single biggest cost for Nigerian airlines. Most of the money airlines make now goes straight into keeping planes in the air. When fuel prices rise, ticket prices rise with them. Airlines in Nigeria do not have large reserves or backup income streams, so they cannot absorb these jumps. Passengers feel the increase almost immediately.

Next is the aircraft shortage. Many airlines are not flying their full fleets because several planes are stuck on the ground awaiting maintenance abroad. Dollar shortages, difficulty sourcing spare parts, and the high cost of routine safety checks have slowed down repairs. Fewer working aircraft mean fewer seats for sale.

Demand, however, keeps growing as insecurity on some major highways has made road travel feel risky, so more Nigerians turn to flights whenever they can afford it. Add the seasonal rush during holidays to this already strained system, and the result is simple: too many people competing for too few seats. That imbalance pushes fares even higher.

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Then come the operating charges. Airlines pay navigational fees, landing and parking charges, passenger levies, security fees, and multiple regulatory costs. Operators say many of these charges overlap and have become too heavy to manage. Regardless of the debate, the outcome is the same. Those costs are added directly to ticket prices.

Foreign exchange problems make everything worse. Maintenance, spare parts, aircraft insurance, and most aviation services are paid for in dollars. With unstable access to foreign exchange, these necessities have become far more expensive. Inflation adds another layer. Staff wages, airport handling, catering, insurance, and logistics all cost more than before. Every stage of airline operations has become pricier, and ticket prices reflect that reality.

Public anger has pushed the issue into government focus. The Senate condemned the steep fares and summoned the aviation minister and airline operators to explain the price hikes. Lawmakers described the fares as outrageous and unacceptable for local travel. For many passengers, the hearings felt less like a solution and more like an overdue acknowledgement.

And still, airlines themselves are struggling. Passenger traffic fell by 27 percent between January and July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Many Nigerians have simply stopped flying. They now choose buses, night travel by road, or cancel trips altogether because airfare no longer makes financial sense. Airlines are charging higher fares but carrying fewer passengers, a fragile situation that threatens the long-term health of the domestic aviation industry.

For now, most Nigerians have simply adjusted. Trips are postponed, reunions delayed, and plans scaled back because air travel has become too expensive to justify. Flying within Nigeria is no longer a normal choice. It is something only a few can still afford.

Meiza Nigeria