Domestic airlines ‘delayed 61% of flights’ in three months

Domestic airlines in Nigeria delayed 61 percent of their flights between July and September, a report released by the Consumer Protection Unit of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has shown.

NAN reports that domestic airlines in Nigeria delayed 8,173 flights and cancelled 96 flights out of a total of 13,255 flights.

The airlines listed in the report, which was released on Wednesday, are Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, First Nation, Med-View and Overland Airways.

Air Peace took the lead with 2,166 delayed flights and five cancelled flights out of 3,811 flights.

Arik Air was next with 2,057 delayed flights and 32 cancellations out of the 3,285 flights it operated during the review period.

The report said Dana Air operated 1,762 flights with 1,079 cases of delayed flights and five cancellations.

Med-View Airline recorded 986 delayed and seven cancelled 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 had 239 flights with 98 delayed and three cancellations.

The airlines blamed the delays and cancellations on operational reasons, the high cost of aviation fuel and inadequate navigational aids at many airports in the country.

Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, recently made it known that the federal government has begun talks with the UK government over the return of Arik Air to the London route.