2022: Nigeria records 47,144 delays out of 80,328 domestic flight operations

By Ihesiulo Grace 20 February 2023 48 No comment

· Overland, Arik, Air Peace, United Nigeria, Dana culpable

By Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo

The aviation industry has been said to be one of the greatest contributors to the country’s economic growth as a result of its vital role.

All over the world, traveling by air has made business and commerce very easy and safe; in fact, without any contradiction, the fastest and safest mode of both human and cargo movement.

In Nigerian, travelling by air is said to be luxury as a result of the level of poverty and the economic situation in the country. It is seen as a means of movement by the elites whereas; the reverse is the case in other developed countries.

All over the world, aviation business is regulated by one body known as the International Civil Aviation Organisation ICAO which makes laws guiding the industry all over with a civil aviation taking charge of every contracting state in the day to day running of the airlines

In Nigeria, the running of the aviation industry especially airlines are becoming too cumbersome to manage by the operators

having negative effects on passengers . Over the years, domestic airlines have continued to fail and disappoint Nigerians in their flights.

In a year, millions of flights are operated on the domestic flights in Nigeria and thousands of flights are delayed and the regulatory authority , Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), receives complaints on daily basis.

The rate of delays and cancellations are becoming too worrisome and unbearable to air travelers especially during festive period in December compared to just half at the beginning of the year.

Air travel has always been a difficult endeavor in Nigeria, with delays and lost luggage being regular pain points for travelers. Due to high cost of JET A1 and scarcity, airlines raised their base fare for local flights to as high as N80, 000 while low cost airlines are charging N50,000

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in its annual statistics of highest domestic, international airlines’ delay released have revealed some aspects of the operational status of airlines that operate both domestically and internationally, a data which indicates that there is a lot of room for improvement.

The document obtained from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) shows that in 2022, 26 airlines carried out a total of 13, 003 international operations to and from the shores of Nigeria while 11 airlines operated 80, 328 flights domestically around the country.

The document titled Executive Summary of International and Domestic Operations in Nigeria ( January- December 2022) also showed that international airlines ferried in 1, 648, 225 inbound passengers and airlifted 1, 855,467 out of the country while domestic airlines did 6,309,664 and 6,359,077 inbound and outbound passengers.

The data also revealed that there were 4,628 delays and 82 cancelled flights on the international operations while the number for domestic operations was a staggering 47,144 with international operations recording 31 air returns, 48,234 baggage delays against domestic operations 91 air returns and 449 delayed baggage.

Breaking it down further, according to the executive summary of international and domestic flight operations in the period of January to December 2022, the highest number of delays on the domestic scene according to flight operated and delayed as well as passenger traffic was Overland Airways.

The airline operated 2926 flight with 2451 delays accounting for 84 per cent delay and 11 cancellations in its operations followed by Azman Air which had a 69 per cent delay percentage as it operated 3,713 and had 2,555 delays with 82 flight cancellations.

Arik Air came next on the list with 9,750 flights and 6,440 delays accounting for 66 per cent of delays in its operations with 110 cancellations.

United Nigeria which had 42 cancellations operated 6,097 times and had 4,000 delays also with a 66 per cent delay rate.

Dana Air’s operations had 2,906 delays from 4,440 flights at 65 per cent with 24 flights cancelled while Air Peace with 24,449 flights delayed 14,908 also averaging 61 per cent and 129 cancellations.

Aero Contractors which flee 3,106 times had 1,889 delays and 99 cancellations; its delay percentage was also 61 per cent while Green Africa operated 4,648 flights with 2111 delays and 79 cancellations with a delay percentage of 45 per cent.

For international operations, Cronos had the least operation figure of 53 flights but led the pack 41 delays at 77 per cent delay rate while it was followed by Turkish Airline which operated 654 flights into Nigeria In 2022 with 420 delays at 64 per cent.

Kenyan Airways with 60 per cent delays had 344 flights to Nigeria with 205 of the delayed. Air Cote D’ voire operated 609 times into Nigeria with 314 delays at 52 per cent.

EgyptAir equally followed with 706 flights into Nigeria with 350 delays which is a 50 per cent delay stat.

Meanwhile, Olumide Ohunayo, an aviation consultant reacting to delays by airlines said, delays are sometimes inevitable especially when it is weather related issues.

Ohunayo explained that no airline operator will allow his aircraft to be on ground instead of making money adding that anything can cause disruption in the system during operations which will affect the entire operations throughout the whole day.

He said it was better to experience delays than to embark on the journey of no return especially when it comes to weather related.

For the general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Comrade Ocheme Aba, from the perspective of the airline, not minding that delays and cancellations are the greatest nightmare for the travellers, it is really pathetic when one witness the untold hardship that Air travelers have to go through due to delays and cancellations.

Aba said it was a big issue for the airline industry particularly in Nigeria “the airlines are going through so many experiences with regards to how to manage their airlines due to infrastructural deficiencies in the systems.

The NUATE scribe also noted that delays were also caused by parking space at the airport ramp especially early in the morning “sometimes you see that when you are ready to take off, you see four or five aircraft ahead with a delay of over 30 minutes and the delay spreads to the end of the day”.

He also revealed that technical issues can affect delays of morning flights adding that the operating conditions were really difficult for airlines adding that it was part of the reasons for the delays.

“When we have situations like destination weather or at locality all completely beyond the airlines we then you understand why we are having this challenges”.

Aba said solution will be remedied by improving the navigational facilities.