Nigeria’s airline ticket-refund practices are facing renewed regulatory scrutiny as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) insists that carriers must comply with existing consumer-protection rules, bringing the timeliness of passenger refunds into sharper focus amid reports of substantial payouts and complaints over unpaid fares.
Data released by the aviation regulator show that Max Air paid ₦182.1 million in ticket refunds to 956 passengers in the second quarter of 2026, while Aero Contractors recorded ₦257.2 million in refunds between January and August 2025.
The disclosures come against the backdrop of the NCAA’s warning that airlines should not tell passengers to wait four weeks for refunds, reinforcing the importance of compliance with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023.
In October 2025, Michael Achimugu, the NCAA’s director of public affairs and consumer protection, said the consumer-protection provisions in Part 19 of the regulations remained in force. He urged passengers who were told to wait four weeks for refunds to submit evidence to the authority.
NCAA figures show that Aero Contractors paid ₦257.2 million in ticket refunds between January and August 2025, up from ₦108.3 million over the corresponding period in 2024.
The increase of ₦148.9 million represents a rise of approximately 137.5 per cent, with the reported value of refunds more than doubling year-on-year.
However, the higher payout does not, on its own, establish that refund delays worsened, that passenger complaints increased by a similar proportion or that the airline breached regulatory requirements. The figures measure the value of refunds recorded, rather than the time taken to process individual claims or the number of passengers still awaiting payment.
Similarly, Max Air’s ₦182.1 million payout to 956 passengers in the second quarter of 2026 provides a measure of refunds processed during the period, but does not show the average amount paid per claim, the time between a refund request and payment, or the number of unresolved cases.
The refund issue has also attracted the attention of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which summoned Air Peace in June 2025 following complaints about unrefunded ticket fares, including tickets for flights cancelled by the airline.
The commission requested information on complaints received, refunds processed and cancelled flights, bringing a competition and consumer-protection dimension to a matter already covered by aviation regulations.
United Nigeria promises 14-day clearance
In September 2026, the NCAA said United Nigeria Airlines had undertaken to clear pending ticket-refund cases within 14 days following a meeting with the authority.
The announcement signalled an attempt to resolve outstanding complaints, but the regulator did not disclose the number of cases involved or confirm that all pending refunds had subsequently been paid.
