By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says its investigation uncovered how airlines manipulated flight fares and fixed prices arbitrarily during the last Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The findings, contained in an interim report released on Thursday by the commission’s department of surveillance and investigations, compared domestic airline pricing from the December 2025 festive period with post-peak January 2026 fare levels.
The FCCPC, in a statement signed by its director of corporate affairs, Mr Ondaje Ijagwu, said it established cases of price fixing by local airlines, documented abuse during the festive season, and would soon begin a probe of foreign airlines, following its ongoing country-wide investigation, which was announced earlier in January.
“A review undertaken by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has uncovered patterns of price manipulation perpetrated by some local airlines during the last festive season. The forensic exercise benefitted from data collated by the commission from airlines operating local routes in the country,” the report said.
The report compares domestic airline pricing from the December 2025 festive period with post-peak January 2026 fare levels.
The FCCPC’s preliminary analysis indicated that fares recorded during the December peak period were materially higher than those observed in the post-peak period across several routes despite relative stability in critical operating variables such as fuel price, government taxes and foreign exchange.
“The differences observed in fares therefore appear to reflect airlines’ arbitrary pricing decisions, including yield management and capacity allocation, rather than any variation in regulatory fees,” the report said.
It also noted that route-level analysis showed that higher fares coincided with periods of reduced seat availability during predictable seasonal demand peaks. On some high-density routes, peak fares were clustered within relatively narrow ranges across several operators.
It noted that on certain corridors, such as Abuja-Port Harcourt, peak fares were several times higher than corresponding post-peak levels. “On selected routes, the difference in the price of a single ticket reached approximately N405,000. Median fares across the sampled routes also rose markedly during the festive window when compared with post-peak benchmarks,” it said.
The report identified the relevance of Sections 59, 72, 107, 108, 124 and 127 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, which address the prohibition of agreements in restraint of competition, the prohibition of abuse of a dominant position, the offence of price-fixing, conspiracy to commit offences under the Act, the right to fair dealings, and the prohibition of unfair, unreasonable or unjust contract terms.
The FCCPC, however, recognised that seasonal demand pressures, scheduling constraints and fleet utilisation might also affect pricing during the peak travel period. It added that these actors remain under consideration as part of the commission’s ongoing review.
Commenting on the release of the interim report, the executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the FCCPC, Tunji Bello, said the review was part of the commission’s statutory responsibility to promote competitive markets and safeguard consumers.
“This assessment is intended to provide clarity on pricing behaviour during predictable peak travel periods. The Commission’s role is not to disrupt legitimate commercial activity, but to ensure that market outcomes remain consistent with competition and consumer protection principles under the law,” Mr Bello said.
He noted that the commission was conducting further structural and route-level analysis before reaching any conclusions.
“It is important to emphasise that this is an interim report. Our next action will be dictated by the full facts established at the end of the review exercise. Then, the Commission will decide whether any regulatory guidance, engagement or enforcement steps are necessary, strictly in accordance with the law,” he said.
Bello further announced that foreign airlines would come under investigation by the FCCPC once the ongoing review of local airlines was concluded.
He noted that the probe of the foreign airlines would be in view of widespread complaints of exploitative fares they allegedly charge Nigerians on certain routes compared to fares in neighbouring countries of equal distance.
