Nigeria’s aviation sector faces a striking paradox: while airlines like Air Peace, United Nigeria, and a few others are adding more aircraft to their fleets, domestic airfares have reached record highs—in some cases surging by 130% – 250% in the final quarter of the year. Despite these acquisitions, Nigeria currently has one of the highest rates of aircraft groundings in the world. Investigation by New Telegraph shows that over 70% of the domestic fleet is currently overseas for maintenance (C-Checks) or grounded due to a global shortage of spare parts and engines.
Across Nigeria’s airports, millions of dollars’ worth of airplanes lay abandoned, slowly rusting away. A recent survey revealed Nigeria was first in the world for unserviceable aircraft.
This means up to 70 per cent of its aircraft are either abandoned or grounded. A lot of this is down to a poor economy, bad management, and a lack of maintenance. A lack of local MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) facilities means airlines must fly planes abroad for “C-Checks”, which are currently delayed by a global shortage of spare parts and engines.
The “flood” of aircraft, intended to drive prices down through competition, is currently being neutralised by a perfect storm of structural and seasonal factors. Some have alleged the flooding of the market by Air Peace and United Nigeria as a decoy to kill competition, likening what Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines were behaving like a ‘cabal’. Chief Commercial Officer of ValueJet, Trevor Henry, while speaking with New Telegraph, said:
“That’s why I give it to you straight. It’s just unfortunate that, and you know, if I were to be specific, it’s one or two airlines that are flooding the market with capacity. “And you know, that is where the authority should step in. Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t share it publicly when it does. December is no higher than the rest of the year.
Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines work closely together. There is a cabal. Unfortunately, there’s no collaboration among airlines. It’s, let me kill you.” Some airlines have continued to take delivery of aircraft.
Additionally, the government’s recent success in moving Nigeria off the “Aviation Working Group” watch-list has allowed the first dry-leases in a decade, potentially bringing in 40+ aircraft by 2026. Some operators use the term “overcapacity” to describe the concentration of aircraft on popular “Trunk A Routes” (Lagos-Abuja), while secondary airports remain underserved.
Stakeholders stated that the notion that the Nigerian aviation market is “flooded” is a technical reality in aircraft orders but a practical myth for travelers on the ground.
They, however, asked that if the market is “flooded,” why are one-way tickets costing N350,000 to N700,000 this December? As new planes arrive, old ones are being retired or failing. In October 2025, the total number of active domestic aircraft actually dropped compared to the previous year. Some industry insiders, including Henry, have argued there is “too much capacity” on specific routes, but this is a market distortion rather than an actual surplus.
Almost every airline flies the same Lagos–Abuja–Port Harcourt triangle. While there are many flights on these routes, secondary cities (such as Akure, Ilorin, and Calabar) remain sparsely served. Speaking on high fares, the ValueJet chief said: “Fares do go up because all of a sudden there is a high demand. Now, that high demand is directional.
In December, everybody’s going to Owerri, and in the first half of January, everybody’s coming out. Now, while you may have, why do I use the directional way? It’s because, from today through tomorrow or yesterday, all our flights are full. We are operating daily when we don’t usually fly daily.”
