Experts ask NCAA to invoke NCAR part 18 to stem exploitative fares, price fixing, others

  Industry experts and consumer advocates are increasingly citing Part 18 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs) as the legal basis for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to enforce measures against “exploitative” airfares.

While airlines generally operate in a deregulated market, Part 18 provides the NCAA with specific “economic oversight” tools to prevent price-fixing, ticket racketeering, and unfair competition.

The regulations give the authority the power to monitor and intervene in the following areas: 18.14 (Fares and Tariffs).

 Airlines are legally required to file their fare schedules with the NCAA’s Directorate of Air Transport Regulation (DATR).

The aviation regulatory body ensures that prices charged to the public align with these filings. If an airline sells a ticket at ₦800,000 but only filed a maximum fare of ₦400,000, they are in violation.

This section prohibits unfair methods of competition.

Experts argue that “predatory pricing,” or sudden, unexplained spikes (not linked to fuel or foreign exchange costs), can be investigated as an abuse of market position.

An investigation by Aviation Metric shows that, until recently, airlines rarely filed their fare schedules with the NCAA. This situation has led to price fixing and arbitrary, unjustified fare increases that travellers face.

The NCAA has recently intensified its use of Part 18 due to astronomical domestic fares on one-hour routes. Airlines have been ordered to resubmit all fare tiers to ensure transparency.

Many airlines, because of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) rule requiring them to break down their fare components, have devised a new method for loading their fare structure into a highly opaque structure.

For instance, a one-way ticket from Lagos to Abuja on a state-owned airline with a base in the South-South region of Nigeria costs N300,000, with the fare breakdown as follows: Airfare N39,000, Airline fees N240,000, and taxes N21,000.

A further breakdown shows a QT tax of only N7, 000 going to the NCAA as Passenger Service Charge (PSC) from the N39, 000 as airfare, NG Sales Tax of N14, 000 while N240, 000 as airline fees goes to the airline; a case of fare padding bringing the total to N300, 000.

Approximately 70 per cent of the fare goes to the airline, contrary to claims that more than 3

70 per cent goes to taxes and charges.

The same situation is observed across virtually all carriers, except a few, as airfares have increased sharply.

Aviation expert and former Chief Operating Officer of IRS Airlines, Mr Yemi Dada, said the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, may not have been adequately briefed when he stated that the government has no business with airfare regulation in a deregulated industry.

“He said, “I don’t think that the Minister was properly briefed as part 18 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulation provides for some level of oversight of fares and particularly Section 18.14.6 allows for the Director-General to disallow excessively high or low fares.”

Dada further noted that airlines add on to their ticket prices the 5% Ticket Sales Charge (TSC), also referred to as the terminal service charge or sales charge to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), as a statutory levy under the Civil Aviation Act 2006.

“Airlines collect this as a percentage of the base fare (or total ticket price in practice) from passengers and remit it to the NCAA, which then shares it with other agencies (e.g., NAMA, NIMET, NCAT, AIB). It is not borne by the airline as an operational cost; it is passed through to passengers and incorporated into ticket prices. The same applies to several other passenger-facing levies.”

Another airline owner who preferred anonymity said that key charges borne directly by airlines, which should not be passed to passengers as part of the airlines’ operating costs, include aeronautical and operational fees paid by airlines to agencies such as FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria), NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency), and NCAA.

Others are landing and parking charges paid to FAAN, based on aircraft weight and type. Day landing: ~N25-N37.5 per kg; night higher. Parking: ~N400 per tonne after 30 hours of free parking.

Meanwhile, the NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr Michael Achimugu, has dismissed claims that domestic airfares are inflated by multiple taxes, asserting that airlines do not pay the alleged levies and attributing fare increases to regular market forces of demand and supply.

Achimugu, in a statement on X, stated that repeated allegations that the government imposes excessive taxes on domestic flights are unfounded.

“Any domestic carrier operating domestic flights that says that they are paying 18 taxes is a liar. No domestic carrier pays 18 taxes for domestic flights.

“We understand the high air fares this period are down to market forces—demand and supply. Assume there are 18 taxes; those taxes increased recently. Why is the figure different in December?

The clarification follows comments by Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema, who alleged that many return flights on South-East routes operate nearly empty. Yet, airlines bear the full cost of both legs.

Onyema added, “Almost 65 to 70 per cent of that money is not coming to the airlines. They’re going somewhere else—levies, taxes, and other charges,” describing airlines as the “sacrificial lamb” of the industry.

He stressed that high fares reflect operational realities rather than exploitation. Ticket prices also vary with timing and demand, with lower fares available for early bookings. Comparing Nigeria with international markets, Onyema said domestic fares remain among the lowest globally.