Air Peace vs FCCPC: Airline reports commission to presidency, questions criteria for investigation

Toyin Olajide, the chief operating officer, Air Peace says the airline has reported the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to the presidency following reports that the commission is investigating it over exploitative fares.

The commission on Thursday in a statement said it is indeed investigating Air Peace, categorically denying reports claiming otherwise.

A report circulated on Wednesday saying that the Commission is not investigating Air Peace over allegations of exploitative ticket pricing. But the FCCPC has labeled the reports false and sponsored. It advised the public to disregard the news entirely.

In a press conference on Friday, Olajide expressed her displeasure over FCCPC’s actions lately and has had to escalate the issue to the presidency.

She wondered what criteria the FCCPC used to determine that Air Peace is charging exploitative fares considering the cost of operations in Nigeria aviation sector.

“Before you say an airline is exploiting passengers, you must be able to proof it. How do you come about that? There are operating costs on a flight. We buy fuel at almost 1,400 per litre. To operate one hour flight, it will take an average airline 4,000 litres of fuel. Fuel alone cost N7 million on a one hour flight,” Olajide said.

She further explained that it cost $4,000 to operate an aircraft for a one hour flight including crew, maintenance and insurance.

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She said insurance costs three times more than it cost in other climes because Nigeria is stigmatised.

“There is no bus stop in the air so you have to do all things humanly possible to follow all requirements. So we can’t manage anything. We borrow money at 30 percent while an American or UK carrier pays two percent interest rate to borrow money.

“In Nigeria, we have to change naira to buy dollars. We pay dollars to bring in everything. After we have paid all these operating costs, we undercharge passengers N100,000 to N150,000 for ticket and we are being crucified,” Olajide said.

She stressed that airlines in Nigeria are not making profits because of high operating costs, adding that if airlines really want to be profitable, they should be charging N500,000 to N700,000 for a one hour flight.

Olajide noted that President Tinubu has been very supportive of the airline considering the sacrifices it made during the Xenophobic attacks and it’s support in bringing in stranded Nigerians from various countries.

She wondered why a government agency has decided to do damage to the airline.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.