High jet fuel prices are impacting airlines across the globe. If oil prices stay where they are, no airlines will be making any money, and quite a few airlines might be looking at going out of business.
We’ve seen some airlines reduce capacity in light of the current situation, since it’s hard to fly profitably. However, we haven’t seen any airlines go quite as far as what we’re seeing in Nigeria, where the country is potentially days from having zero domestic flights… if airlines are to be believed.
In this post:
Nigerian airlines may shut down on April 20, 2026
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), an industry body made up of around a dozen Nigerian airlines, has warned that airlines will be suspending all domestic flight operations from April 20, 2026, unless jet fuel prices go down.
The organization claims that jet fuel prices have increased by around 270% since late February 2026. The price of a liter of jet fuel has reportedly increased from around ₦900 ($0.67) to around ₦3,300 ($2.46). Nigeria’s aviation sector consumees around 2.1 million liters of jet fuel per day. Just to do some basic math, there are around four liters per gallon, so airlines in Nigeria are paying close to $10 per gallon of jet fuel. Yowzers.
The claim is that the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) has been artificially inflating the cost of jet fuel, at a time when some relief should be provided. The lobbying group argues that “airline revenues are insufficient to cover the cost of fuel alone.”
MEMAN disputes AON’s claims, arguing that the quoted prices are 40% above a survey-based market average, and also defended itself by arguing that jet fuel distribution requires specialized equipment and handling that makes it more cost intensive.
Airlines in Nigeria have raised fares to try to recoup some of the added expenses, though that then impacts demand. If you raise fares significantly but demand also decreases, that’s not a great situation either.
Are Nigerian airlines bluffing or serious about grounding?
Of course the current jet fuel situation is a total mess for airlines, as they’re in an unenviable spot. It’s natural that airlines would try to reduce capacity as much as possible, but the economics there are also complicated. Airlines have some high fixed costs as well, so it’s not like shutting down operations means that all of the costs go away.
I have a very hard time imagining that all airlines in Nigeria will just suspend flights overnight, as I think that’s highly unlikely. Instead, I suspect this is them just trying to collectively apply some pressure to get regulators to take some action to reduce the cost of jet fuel.
We’ll see if anything comes of this, but having a country suspend all domestic flights would be quite something. Who knows, maybe they will suspend flights for a couple of days, as that’s certainly a way to get regulators to pay attention.
Bottom line
Airlines in Nigeria are threatening to shut down all domestic flight operations as of April 20, 2026. An organization representing airlines in the country claims that Nigerian carriers are paying close to $10 per gallon of fuel, and that simply isn’t sustainable.
While I of course understand and agree that this is a problem, I’m not sure shutting down all flights is the solution either. It seems to me that airlines are trying to apply pressure to the government to give some relif with jet fuel prices.
What do you make of this threat from Nigerian airlines? Do you think they’re serious or bluffing?
Nigeria has airlines?
You really are a Nobody.
So true 1990Bot, apparently some of the proletariat really do live up to their login name …. :-)
It seems so, Aero… it… seems… so…
AON is a bunch of blowhards who pretend they are speaking in unison when secretly trying to stab each other in the back. Very rarely do they ever follow through with any of their threats.
Sean, since you’ve lead operations for African airlines, do you foresee widespread jet-fuel shortages and reductions in service across the continent? I mean, JNB has that occasionally, even without a war in the ME. And, Kenya airports had a strike a few weeks back. How’r things looking overall?
I was on BBC's "Focus On Africa" TV program on 24MAR26 where I said that the impact on African aviation will not be as much felt in pricing but rather in physical shortage of commodity, and I said the impact would be felt around 6-8 weeks into the conflict. I hate being right about that unfortunately.
Ahh, not great, so we’re about there now, and/or soon. Even if this supposed ceasefire holds and the Strait actually reopens, there may still be a lapse. So, May could be rough, eh? That is very cool that you were on BBC! The fertilizer shortages are also a huge impact for food, too. *sigh*
Well, luckily for the U.S. airlines like Lucky said they make their money from their loyalty programs anyway so they can stay in business by the billions of swipes from the credit cards, lol.
Joking aside, I really do hope things will turn back to normal asap. With the possibility of more airlines raising fuel surcharges and baggage fees and possibly raising ticket prices itself, it is just going to be bad for the customers.
One can only echo the sentiments expressed by others …. “It’s a fine mess you have gotten the world into Mr ‘rump”.
He wouldn’t enjoy a peaceful round of golf down here on any RSA course.
As soon as the fortune of Nigerian prince, i sent the money to, comes through, I will donate some of it to the Nigerian airlines so that they can buy some fuel.
You know the Omo, too?? Yeah, that direct deposit should arrive any day now…
This is odd. Nigeria is the largest oil and gas producer in Africa, which has made them (or at least the elites) weathly. Do they not have the refining capacity to refine jet fuel or do they make more money shipping it out to other countries?
To answer my own question, apparently Nigeria's own oil and hydrocarbon products are for export. They do make jet fuel but not for local consumption.
Exporting makes sense - this is much like the US and many other countries.
Nigeria brought some refineries online in the last few years, however one barrel holding 42 gallons of oil doesn't convert to 42 gallons of refined output.
However, because refineries use fractional distillation (shout out to Mr. Herman from eighth grade science!) to produce gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, refineries can switch the mix of distillate outputs pretty easily, but who knows how much kerosene is needed to fuel planes. AND...one would presume that a certain amount...
Nigeria brought some refineries online in the last few years, however one barrel holding 42 gallons of oil doesn't convert to 42 gallons of refined output.
However, because refineries use fractional distillation (shout out to Mr. Herman from eighth grade science!) to produce gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, refineries can switch the mix of distillate outputs pretty easily, but who knows how much kerosene is needed to fuel planes. AND...one would presume that a certain amount would still be needed for gasoline and diesel.
Good job Donald! You're a very special boy, and people care deeply about your opinion, and your existence has been validated.
Now please - stop setting fire to the global economy!
Even if he stopped now and pinky promised to make things whole again:
A), the actual decision maker Milekowski, isn't finished yet
B), things are broken that cannot be fixed in a simple short-term timeline and there will be a lot of airlines doing the whole 'that's all folks!' routine