Festive season flights more expensive than post-peak, FCCPC reports

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has identified patterns of price manipulation by some domestic airlines during the December 2025 festive period, raising concerns about consumer exploitation and competition in Nigeria’s aviation sector.

In an interim report released on Thursday, the Commission’s Department of Surveillance and Investigations said its analysis showed ticket fares during the festive peak were significantly higher than post-peak levels in January 2026, even though key cost factors such as aviation fuel, government taxes, and foreign exchange remained relatively stable.

The probe, which was announced in January, compared domestic airline pricing during the December holiday rush with fare levels in January. According to the FCCPC, the discrepancies appear to reflect airlines’ discretionary pricing decisions rather than external economic pressures.

“A review undertaken by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has uncovered patterns of price manipulation perpetrated by some local airlines during the last festive season,” according to a report cited by Punch newspaper. “Preliminary analysis indicates that fares recorded during the December peak were materially higher than those observed in the post-peak period across several routes, despite stability in critical operating variables.”

The Commission also highlighted that fare hikes coincided with periods of limited seat availability during predictable seasonal demand peaks, suggesting deliberate supply constraints. On high-density routes, peak fares were often clustered within narrow ranges across multiple operators, which may indicate coordinated behaviour.

For instance, on the Abuja–Port Harcourt route, peak fares during the festive season were reported to be several times higher than post-peak levels, with differences for some tickets reaching up to ₦405,000. Median fares across sampled routes similarly rose sharply during the festive window compared with January benchmarks.

The FCCPC said the findings underscore the need for closer monitoring of airline pricing strategies to protect consumers and ensure fair competition in the domestic aviation market.