First quarter saw 6,789 delay and 318 cancellations out of 10,366 flights—NCAA
The cumulative performance of the nation’s domestic aviation industry has shown serious drop in value chain within the first quarter of 2017.
A report released by the NCAA’s Consumer Protection Department disclosed that 10,366 flights operated in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the 15,434 flights operated in 2016 by the same eight domestic airlines.
But the not so good angle of the report was that out of the 10,366 flights operated in the first quarter, there was 6,789 delay and 318 cancellations.
The agency, in a document, said the domestic airlines are Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, First Nation, Med-View, and Overland.
The report disclosed that out of the 10,366 flights operated in the first quarter, there was 6,789 delay and 318 cancellations.
Details of the cancelations and delays are as follows: Air Peace, which operated 3,262 flights, topped the chart of delayed flights with 2,036.
Arik Air recorded 1,059 delayed flights and 246 cancellations out of its 1,665 flight operations.
Dana Air operated 1,525 flights with 1,017 delayed and five cancellations.
However, the airlines have listed key factors that frustrated their activities within the period under review.
The domestic airlines said top in their challenges include high cost of aviation fuel, inadequate navigational aids and multiple charges by the various aviation agencies.
President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie Meggison, said there was a need to create a more conducive environment for domestic airlines to thrive, stressing that Nigerian carriers were restricted to daylight operations in most airports in the country while airlines in other West African countries operate 24 hours.
Meanwhile a top official of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) who pleaded anonymity flayed the position of Air Peace boss, Mr. Allen Onyema who said that issue of multiple charges imposed on the airlines put many of them out of business.
The FAAN official chided Onyema, saying there are no issues of multiple taxation in the industry.
