West African Airlines Push Back on $250 Passenger Taxes as Lagos Summit Targets Air Fares
The reason a short flight between two West African capitals can cost more than a long-haul ticket has little to do with distance. It has to do with taxes, currency and the cost of money. That was the message from industry leaders at the AeroWest Africa Annual Summit, held in Lagos from 2 to 4 September 2026 under the theme of financing connectivity for aviation and tourism in West and Central Africa.
The sharpest numbers came from Ugonna Agubuokwu, Chief Operations Officer of Enugu Air. He said some countries in the region impose between 150 and 250 dollars in passenger taxes and charges. His argument was that aviation should be treated as a support service for tourism and trade, not as a source of government revenue. He also said the right measure of regional aviation is not how many airlines or flights exist, but whether those airlines are sustainable, reliable and profitable.
Adedayo Olawuyi, Chief Commercial Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, explained the currency problem that sits underneath every fare quote in Nigeria. Airlines sell most tickets locally in naira, but pay in foreign currency for aircraft leasing, maintenance, simulator training and other technical services. Fuel costs have risen sharply as well. He put the financing problem plainly, asking how many people would take a loan at 30 per cent to invest in a business returning less than 5 per cent. Olawuyi warned that taking too much out of airlines through charges will eventually destroy the businesses that generate the traffic, and called for lower taxes and charges.
Skills were the third cost pressure discussed. Captain Samuel Caulcrik, former Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology in Zaria, said pilot training can cost between 80,000 and 100,000 dollars, before airlines add type-rating requirements. He argued for stronger government and private funding of aviation training, recalling a proposal that governments commit around one per cent of GDP to human capital development. Aviation consultant and operator Tayo Ojuri took a different view, saying governments should focus on security, healthcare and infrastructure while private capital drives investment and skills.
Where the panel agreed is the part that matters most to travel sellers. Ojuri called for regional connectivity built around what each country does well, naming tourism, agriculture, culture, religious tourism and the MICE segment. Developing those markets, he said, creates the passenger demand that new regional routes need to survive. Agubuokwu made a related point about demand: business traffic has fallen as digital meetings replaced physical ones since the pandemic, and tourism may be the growth path that replaces it.
Olawuyi also raised aircraft size. Route expansion is only sustainable when operators match capacity to real demand on thin regional routes. That explains why so many announced services in the region disappear after a season. An aircraft that is too large turns a promising route into a loss-maker within months, and the agency that sold forward on that route carries the disruption.
For agencies and tour operators, there are practical conclusions. Fares in the region are unlikely to fall quickly, so the commercial answer is to build products that justify the ticket price: multi-country itineraries, cultural and heritage circuits, religious travel, and conference or incentive business that fills seats midweek. It is also worth telling clients clearly how much of a fare is tax, because that shifts the complaint away from the agency.
The broader question facing the trade is whether the region's operators want to keep competing on price alone in a market where costs are set in dollars. Businesses that build demand around specific products, and that work with airlines and tourism boards to fill routes rather than waiting for them to appear, are likely to have more influence over which flights survive the next few years.
