Chinedu Eze
There strong indications that domestic airlines may slash the cost of local flights by next week, following the confirmation that marketers have commenced loading of aviation fuel, known as Jet A1 at the new price of N1,650 per litre from Dangote refinery.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals earlier in the week, announced that it has reduced price of aviation fuel from N1, 750 per litre to N1, 650 per litre in a move aimed at easing cost pressures on airlines and ensuring uninterrupted fuel supply across the country.
Dangote has also granted marketers, airline operators 30-day interest-free credit facility and they are now buying the product in Naira; unlike in the past when they had to source for dollars to buy the product from Dangote.
The Chairman of Ndano Energy, an aviation oil marketing company, Chris Ndulue, confirmed to THISDAY in a telephone interview that his company has purchased the first batch of aviation fuel from Dangote refinery at the new price and also expressed happiness that the product was sold to his company in Naira.
“He (Dangote) has done it. I have bought and wired money to him today at the new price. So, it has started. I will sell to the airlines at lower price. It is a significant reduction because he has also started selling in naira. He moved it down from N1, 750. We worked on the price reduction today in the office.
“We hope the airlines will also bring down their fares because at high prices there will be less number of passengers but with reduced fares, more passengers will fly, so, you make money from volume instead of per unit. We have to note that we are selling this product at N900 per litre in February before the war in Iran. So, it was not anybody’s intention to sell as such high price,” Ndulue stated.
He also noted that the prices of the product may further go down in the weeks ahead because the war in Iran has ended, what remains now is the propaganda of war, adding that the pump price of the product may hover around N1, 750.
According to him, it is in the interest of the airlines that there is reduction in the fares to enable more people travel by air.
“I doubt that the war in Iran can go beyond what it is now because Iran does not have the capacity to continue to fight the war,” he said.
THISDAY investigation revealed that the fares are still relatively high. Cost of tickets for June 18 flight is very high at the busy routes like Lagos to Abuja. Most of the airlines charge about N200, 000 for one hour flight.
Lagos to Chinua Achebe Cargo Airport, Umueri, Anambra State is as high as N270, 000 for one way flight. The route is operated by Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines. But Enugu Air has relatively lowered the fares that started from N90, 000 to N120, 000 for Lagos-Owerri; Lagos- Enugu flights.
Observers indicate that as insecurity continues to spread towards southern parts of the country, more Nigerians would want to travel by air but the fares are still high beyond the affordability of many Nigerians who would rather risk the roads than travel by air because of what they described as outrageous fares.
However, marketers as at Wednesday, May 20, 2026 sold aviation fuel to airlines as follows: in Lagos MRS at N1, 750, NNPC, N1, 890, Raven, N1, 950, Nepal, N1, 850, Kerojet, N1, 850 and Ndano, N1, 994 per litre.
Also, Agbenu sold at N2000, Asharami, N2, 010, Octavus, N2, 050, CITA, N2, 076, Geometrics, N2, 150 and Reeve, N2, 350, Afloat, N2, 400, Eterna, N2, 400, Aedova, N2, 400 and Accorn, N2, 505.
In Abuja, the prices are as follows: MRS, N1, 789, NNPC, N1, 929, Nepal, N1, 930, Raven, N2, 050, Asharami, N2, 050, Kerojet, N1, 930, Ndano, N2, 054, CITA, N090, Total, N2,100 and Ardova, N2, 220.
In Kano, MRS, N1, 801, Nepal, N1, 900, NNPC, N1, 945, Kerojet, N1, 946, Asharami, N2, 100, Ndano, N2, 119, CITA, N2, 143, Total, N2, 233, Agbenu, N2, 500, Ardova, N2, 500 and Ocatvus, N2, 540.
Although it is expected that the airlines may likely bring down their fares, now that aviation fuel price has gone down, but THISDAY learnt that high demand may drive up the fares because as Nigerians gear up for election next year, there are indications that there will be increased movement of politicians who will be campaigning for the elections.
Spokesman of Air Peace, Efeoghene Osifo-Whiskey, told THISDAY that there was discernible increase in seat demand, especially in some domestic routes and it spiked during the parties’ primaries, projecting that it would continue like that until the end of the year.
The manager of the airport, Mr. Martins Nwafor, told THISDAY that the route is underserved and disclosed that he had made requests to Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines to increase their frequency to the airport but they are yet to meet passenger demand on the route.
Osifo-Whiskey said that Air Peace base fare was about N97, 000, so when the fare gets as high as N200, 000 and more it means that there is high demand of seats on that route.
“A lot of people are booking flights lately. There is high ticket demand for Anambra state. In fact, a lot of people have been booking flights on our domestic destinations. I guess demand has increased because election is coming up and campaign has started; so, there is significant spike in seat demand. Another route that has such high demand is Owerri. We recently increased our frequency to three flights a day to Owerri,” he said.
Informed source told THISDAY that beginning from now till the presidential election next year, there will be high demand of flights on scheduled flight service and there will be more activities on general aviation because there is going to be high demand in aircraft charter services.
“Even airlines on schedule service will have to give out their aircraft for charter at the peak of the campaign. So, this campaign year, a lot of things will happen but if the price of aviation fuel eventually goes back to pre-Iran war of N900 per litre, airlines will bring down their fares, but there is not going to be radical reduction of fares because demand will still be high,” the insider source said.
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