The soaring cost of domestic air travel in Nigeria is forcing many citizens to abandon air transportation, as one-way tickets now sell for over N200,000 on several routes.
Routes such as Lagos to Abuja, Enugu, Kano, and Owerri have seen unprecedented price hikes, with some flights costing as much as N650,000, depending on the airline and the time of booking.
A one-way economy class ticket from Lagos to Abuja, previously priced between N50,000 to N65,000, now ranges between N130,000 and N220,000.
Similarly, flights from Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Owerri have reached staggering prices, with tickets costing up to N650,000 and N600,000, respectively.
Business Day reports that the surge in prices is attributed to a combination of factors, including the scarcity of foreign exchange, increased maintenance costs, and the grounding of some domestic airlines, such as Dana Air.
According to the report, many airlines are struggling to maintain their fleets, with fewer aircraft available to meet demand, creating a virtual monopoly on certain routes.
Passengers like Patience Kofo, who used to frequently travel with her children from Lagos to Abuja, have been priced out of flying.
“I used to spend between N500,000 to N600,000 on return tickets, but now it costs over N1.5 million,” she said.
Similarly, frequent business traveller Musa Iyal had to cancel his trip after discovering that a one-way ticket from Kano to Lagos was priced at N230,000, citing that such high costs would erode his business profits.
Aviation industry experts warn that the current trend may lead to a further drop in passenger numbers. Data from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) shows that domestic air travel has already declined by 13% between 2022 and 2023, with 8.1 million people traveling by air in 2023, compared to 9.4 million in 2022.
With rising costs and reduced fleet availability, many Nigerians are turning to alternative forms of transportation, making air travel increasingly a luxury reserved for the wealthy.
