Airlines do not pay 18 taxes, NCAA tells Nigerians amid fare controversy
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has dismissed claims that domestic airfares are driven up by multiple taxes, insisting that airlines do not pay the levies being widely alleged and blaming the recent surge in ticket prices on basic market forces of demand and supply.
The regulator’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, made the clarification in a statement posted on X on Sunday, describing repeated claims of excessive government taxation on domestic flights as unfounded.
Resharing a past interview, Achimugu said no domestic airline pays the volume of taxes frequently cited in public discussions, insisting that claims of up to 18 different levies were simply false. He argued that if such taxes existed, they had not increased recently and therefore could not explain the sharp rise in fares seen in December.
According to him, the NCAA does not regulate ticket prices but had invited domestic airlines to clarify the issue. He said the airlines themselves admitted they were not paying the number of taxes being “bandied around” in public discourse.
Achimugu also rejected claims that government policies were responsible for high fares, noting the level of support given to airlines by President Bola Tinubu, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo and the Director General of Civil Aviation, Captain Chris Najomo. He said there was no justification for repeatedly blaming the government for fare increases.
The clarification follows comments by Air Peace Chief Executive Officer, Allen Onyema, who told ARISE News that many return flights on South-East routes operate nearly empty, even though airlines bear the full operational cost of both legs.
Onyema claimed that between 65 and 70 per cent of ticket revenue does not go to airlines but is absorbed by taxes, levies and other charges, describing airlines as the “sacrificial lamb” of the aviation industry. He maintained that high fares reflect operational realities rather than profiteering, adding that ticket prices vary based on timing and demand, with cheaper options available for early bookings.
He also argued that domestic airfares in Nigeria remain among the lowest globally when compared with international markets.
Responding, Achimugu questioned claims of profiteering and excessive taxation, pointing out that there had been no recent increases in taxes or jet fuel prices. He said it was contradictory to claim that Nigerians pay some of the lowest airfares globally while also justifying astronomical December prices without any change in underlying costs.
He asked why tickets sold for as much as ₦500,000 for short flights of about 45 minutes if taxes were unchanged, stressing that the surge in fares could not logically be blamed on government levies.
Achimugu concluded that the December spike in airfares is driven purely by demand, noting that similar seasonal increases affect transport fares, accommodation prices and food costs. He argued that the issue is market behaviour rather than government policy, insisting that Nigerians are responding to Nigerians in a high-demand period.