As contained in a report released by the Consumer Protection Unit of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority in Ikeja on Wednesday, domestic airlines operating in Nigeria documented 8,173 cases of delayed flights between July and September 2017.
According to official figures, an average of 89 flights was delayed daily which reveals that at every hour every day for those three months, at least three flights were delayed.
Eight airlines operated 13,255 flights during the period, canceling 96 flights for different reasons, as stated in the report. Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, First Nation, Med-View, and Overland Airways were filed as the airlines involved in the flight operations.
According to the report, Air Peace topped the chart of delayed flights with 2,166 and five canceled flights, operating 3,811 flights in the period; followed by Arik Air with 2,057 delayed flights and 32 flight cancellations out of its 3,285 flight services.
Dana Air operated 1,762 flights with 1,079 cases of delayed flights and five cancellations while Med-View Airline recorded 986 delayed flights and seven canceled flights out of the 1,394 flights operated by the airline during the period.
Azman Air operated 1,127 flights with 712 delayed and 16 cancellations, while Overland operated 542 flights with 391 delayed and seven cancellations. First Nation Airways delayed 98 flights and called three after having 239 flights.
Reasons for the delays and cancellations according to the airlines were operational reasons, high cost of aviation fuel, and inadequate navigational aids at many airports in the country.
