Nigeria Records 19,323 Delayed Flights in 6 Months
The frequency of delayed flights in Nigeria’s air travel sector reached a worrisome height, recording 19,323 incidents in the first half of this year, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has disclosed.
According to data released in Lagos by the regulator, domestic airlines posted 16,880 delays while their foreign counterparts accounted for 2,443 issues during the period under review.
NCCA’s Director-General, Captain Muktar Usman, at a stakeholders’ meeting in the nation’s economic headquarters, admitted that though the figures were alarming, but he, however, noted that “no delay or outright cancellation is too much when it concerns safety of lives.”
A further breakdown shows that an average of three out of four flights were delayed in 2017, indicating that of the 48,319 tallies by eight airlines, 30,214 were late with 872 cancelled.
The factsheet revealed that Aero Contractors had 66.5 per cent delay rate, Arik Air (61.8 per cent), Azman Air (66.4 per cent), Dana Air (64.2 per cent) and Med-View Airlines Plc. (71 per cent).
Only last year alone, domestic airlines operating in Nigeria recorded 30,214 cases of delayed flights between January and December 2017, according to figures released by the Consumer Protection Department of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). A document issued by the department and obtained by newsmen showed that 48,319 flights were operated by eight airlines during the period under review. According to the document, 872 flights were cancelled for various reasons by the airlines. It said the airlines in operation were Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, First Nation, Med-View and Overland. The document said Air Peace, which operated 14,312 flights, topped the chart of delayed flights with 8,336 and only 149 cancelled flights. It added that Arik Air followed with 6,709 delayed flights and 498 cancellations, out of its 10,840 flight operations. According to the document, Dana Air operated 6,838 flights with 4,386 cases of delayed flights and 16 cancellations. Med-View Airline recorded 3,552 and 72 delayed and cancelled flights respectively, out of the 4,999 flights operated by the airline during the period under review. Also, Azman Air operated 4,560 flights with 3,029 delayed and 53 cancellations; Overland, 2,149 flights with 1,508 delayed and 22 cancellations, while First Nation Airways had 1,266 flights with 454 delayed and six cancellations. However, the delays according to the airlines, were due to operational reasons, scarcity of aviation fuel as well as adverse weather, particularly in December when most of the airlines could not operate scheduled operations due to low visibility at most of the airports.