FEATURES Archives - Page 2 of 35

Shrinking Pie: The dangerous economics of Nigerian airlines

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Wole Shadare

While multi-airline competition theoretically benefits consumers, the sheer volume of operating certificates in a capital-constrained environment creates severe market distortions. WOLE SHADARE x-rays the yield dilution and hyper-competition crisis facing Nigeria’s domestic carriers The rapid expansion of Nigeria’s domestic aviation sector, marked by a growing list of private startups and sub-national state carriers, is colliding directly with macroeconomic realities. The continuous entry of new domestic carriers into Nigeria’s air transport market presents an economic anomaly. While open-market…

Chaos to Order: Nigeria Overhauls Airport Rules After 21 Years

Posted on July 28, 2026 by Wole Shadare

For an industry long troubled by terminal chaos, unauthorised airside access, physical assaults on airline staff, and pervasive touting, the updated regulatory framework offers a decisive playbook to sanitise Nigeria’s air transport gateways, writes WOLE SHADARE Nigerian airports have frequently made headlines for the wrong reasons: irate passengers destroying check-in counters over flight delays, touts soliciting unvetted transport services inside arrival halls, and unauthorised personnel breaching restricted airside zones. For more than two decades, managing terminal…

Nigeria’s aviation market faces passenger traffic erosion

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Nigeria’s domestic passenger traffic is depleting. The segment experienced consecutive contractions between 2022 and 2024, shrinking the domestic market by nearly two million passengers within three years, writes WOLE SHADARE For over a decade, Nigeria’s domestic aviation sector operated on a simple, predictable trajectory: despite infrastructural hiccups, passenger volumes grew year on year. Terminals were packed, peak hours were chaotic, and securing a flight ticket during the festive season required weeks of strategic planning. Today,…

Tectonic Shift: The 40-40 NAMA, NCAA revenue split dispute

Posted on July 14, 2026July 14, 2026 by Wole Shadare

What appears on the surface to be a petty bureaucratic turf war is, in reality, a symptom of a deeper, structural financing crisis, writes WOLE SHADARE Nigeria’s aviation sector is currently locked in a high-stakes, fiscal staring contest. A fierce proxy war has erupted between two sister agencies—the apex regulator, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and the nation’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). At the centre of this multi-billion-naira storm…

The deepening dilemma of Nigeria’s aviation funding

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Wole Shadare

In the high-stakes world of aviation, safety margins are rarely compromised by a single failure; they erode slowly under the weight of systemic neglect. Right now, the financial crisis rocking the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) exposes a complex industry dilemma, writes WOLE SHADARE The financial crisis rocking the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has taken a dramatic turn, with the agency’s unions warning of total operational insolvency as domestic debt hits ₦34.69 billion and foreign…

Nigeria’s aviation future: Collaboration over competition

Posted on June 30, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The sector is witnessing a broader awakening across the industry. Airlines are realising that regional and international expansion requires a massive scale that cannot be achieved alone. Carriers are still sharply divided against what may be a game-changer for them, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the tarmac of Nigerian aviation has been littered with the ghosts of airlines that flew high, burned fast, and vanished into thin air. From the nostalgic eras of Okada Air,…

The Dramatic Renaissance of Nigerian Aviation

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Wole Shadare

A new era of grit, growth, and cross-border ambition is unfolding. Nigerian airlines are breaking new ground—not just by surviving, but by aggressively expanding their footprints. At the heart of this operational renaissance is a deliberate, dramatic pivot in government policy led by the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo. writes, WOLE SHADARE For years, the story of Nigerian aviation was a repetitive, predictable blues track. It was a narrative dominated by foreign mega-carriers scooping up 90 to 95 per…

Inside the billion-naira debt trap threatening Nigeria’s aviation sector

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Nigeria’s aviation sector is operating on life support. Beneath the gleaming veneer of terminal upgrades and the seemingly bubbling activities lies a structurally compromised industry quietly choking on a mountain of uncollectible debt, writes WOLE SHADARE A thorough investigation into the balance sheets of local airlines reveals a toxic, multi-billion-naira debt portfolio owed to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), aviation ground handling…

Crisis Emptying Nigeria, Africa’s Jet Fuel Reserves

Posted on June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The crisis threatening to ground the continent’s aviation industry is far more visceral, and it is unfolding thousands of miles away, writes WOLE SHADARE The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has sounded a resounding alarm, warning that Africa’s jet fuel storage is rapidly drying up. For decades, the standard playbook for African airlines battling operational turbulence has relied on familiar variables: fluctuating currencies, heavy tax regimes, and regulatory gridlock. What began as a localised military flare-up…

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