Challenges in Nigeria’s Aviation Sector

Festus Keyamo, Aviation Minister While flight delays and cancellations can be infuriating to an average passenger, air travellers in Nigeria seemed not to have been well-informed about many factors responsible for such incidents. Chinedu Eze writes that the regulatory authority and the airlines should embark on sensitisation There are two things that are peculiarly Nigerian in air travel. Passengers often become restive and sometimes violent when airlines announce flight delay or cancellation. The second thing is that because of the fear of the first, airlines are reluctant to update their passengers about their flight service. Whenever passengers attack airlines’ staff for flight delay or flight cancellation, it is a ventilation of frustration: appointments that would not be kept; a very important consignment that will not be delivered; a meeting that will be missed. Over the years, air travellers have become skeptical about Nigerian airlines. They do not believe airline personnel when they explain why flights are cancelled and they do not believe the extraneous factors that lead to flight delays even when they are explained to them. This shows that there is growing disconnect between the airlines and the travelling public. But incidentally, if Nigerian passengers are waiting at Lome airport in Togo for a connecting flight and the flight is delayed, they do not attack the airline ground personnel or the airline`s equipment, as they do in Nigeria. About two years ago, Nigerian passengers that were to connect flight to another African country from the Katoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana waited for over three hours, but there was no boarding call. One of the Nigerian passengers started complaining loudly and the airport manager came out and warned the Nigerian passengers and capped her warning with “This is not Nigeria.” Such delays also occur on international travel where Nigerians in their numbers were travelling but they never protest when delays occur or even cancellation. In recent times international airlines like Della Air Lines, British Airways, Lufthansa have cancelled flights in Nigeria but the passengers were never reported to be violent. In fact, industry observers have agreed that the attitude of fighting airline personnel and destroying airline equipment at the airport is usually targeted at Nigerian airlines; that such violent disruption rarely occur with foreign airlines. Flight Delay and Violent Reaction Reports indicate that air travellers in Nigeria sometimes resort to violence during flight delays due to a combination of poor communication from airlines, systemic infrastructure challenges, and weak institutional deterrence. The allegation is that airlines often fail to provide timely, transparent updates regarding the status of delayed or cancelled flights, leaving passengers feeling ignored or deceived. Reports also indicated that there were frequent delays driven by congested aprons, bird strikes, sunset airport restrictions, and limited airline fleets stretch traveller patience to a breaking point. Observers also believed that one of the problems that led to this is that many disputes are settled informally or handled with light administrative penalties rather than swift criminal prosecution, which fails to deter future aggressive behaviour and negate international standards practices. In fact, aviation security personnel often watch restive passengers destroy airline’s equipment without stopping them. There have been occasions they were allegedly egged on by airport officials. Causes of Flight Delays Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) issued a communique recently, which contained among other things the factors that cause flight delay and cancellation in Nigeria. The operators noted that it never benefits them if there is flight delay or cancellation. in fact, when it happens, they lose revenue. The operators identified causes of flight delay and cancellation to include, weather, which AON identified as the major cause of delays especially during the rainy seasons and the dust haze months of November to March. Another factor is inadequate aircraft parking space, due to congested aprons in both Lagos and Abuja airports. There are also sunset airport restrictions, which refer to airports that do not have facilities for night landing or the airports which landing facilities are not activated. Other Factors AON also pointed out that VIP movement causes flight delays. This is when the aircraft of the president of the country and other high personalities are taking off or landing and the airspace is closed for them. Aircraft that are airborne and those on the ground about to take off will have to wait. Another key factor that contributes significantly to flight delay and cancellation is the frequent bird strikes and Foreign Object Damage (FOD). “Bird strikes and foreign object damage frequently affect aircraft during, taxiing, take-off and landing. The massive delays occasioned by bird strikes are not caused by the airlines,” AON said AON said unavailability and ever-rising cost of aviation fuel, JetA1 contribute to flight delays. The prices keep rising and the latest price is put at above N2500 per litre by the operators “and that has continued to rise fast and steadily. On top of the continuous rise in the fuel price, fuel supply is at best epileptic at several secondary airports thereby causing delays.” The operators said inefficient air traffic flow is another factor that delays flights. According to AON, sometimes airlines have to wait on the ground in a queue for extended periods before being given clearance for takeoff. The operators lamented about inadequate airport infrastructure and said it hampered flight operations and leads to delays. “This include but not limited to poor Check-in Facilities, lack of adequate Screening and Exit Points, Unserviceable Baggage Carousels, Inadequate and Unreliable Ground Services Equipment from the ground handling companies, all causing avoidable systemic delays,” AON said. However, AON did not include aircraft having technical problems which could lead to AOG (Aircraft on Ground) as major cause of flight delay and cancellation. Sometimes aircraft develops technical problems leading to delay and flight cancellation and this also happens regularly. Poor Communication Nigerian airlines are blamed for failure to keep passengers abreast of their latest development in flight operations. THISDAY findings showed that sometimes airline officials were unwilling to inform passengers about the situation because of fear of how they would react, but industry insiders said that while that could be a factor, the airline must have to change their attitude on that. “Even if you have to walk to the passengers with a security official on your side, you must update them or you send the latest information to their devices, they must be updated at any point in time,” one industry stakeholder told THISDAY. The stakeholders also observed that while the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has variously informed passengers of their rights and what their obligations to the airlines are, “there is no sensitisation that airlines are not responsible to many factors that cause flight delays and cancellations”. Airlines Story The Executive Secretary of Airline Operators of Nigeria (ART), Olu Fidel Ohunayo, told THISDAY that over time the Nigerian airlines have failed to tell their story; to let passengers know what causes flight delays so they won’t heap all the blames on them any time there is flight delay. He referred to the recent flight delay statistics released by NCAA and noted it was devoid of airlines input. “So, I expect that when you don’t tell your story, people will tell the story. Some other people will tell the story. And when they tell your story, you are now left to defend or correct the story. That is why you must start, and you must tell your own story so others won’t say it on your behalf. This is the conundrum that the airlines have found themselves in with delays and cancellations that is going viral and they now have to push back,” Ohunayo said. He observed that before now some airlines used to publish their flight statistics but suddenly stopped, remarking that what happened was reawakening for the airlines. “The statistics will make everybody buckle up and it will also help us to know the causes of delay. Yes, the airlines alone cannot be responsible for the delay. There are all other factors which were mentioned by them in their recent meeting. But now they need to move, they need to step up. “Because if the regulations are stacked against you, directing you to do some services, to pay for some services related to delays and cancellations, then you also need to say those causes of delays that are not within your control. And that is why the NCAA statistics should be expanded to tell us the time of delay, actual cause of delay. Because the idea of this stats is not to bring down the airlines, it Is not to de-market airlines but to improve the system and ensure everybody smiles,” the ART executive said. He said that the way to improve the system would be to have comprehensive statistical table of delays and cancellations and reasons for the delays, noting that this would help everybody. “And I think that is the work of the regulator to provide the statistics and not the airlines alone. But the airlines should also be able to tell their story and look forward to such a time when they can put that forward. But we should look at what is best for us now. And I think what is best for us is to support timely and accurate release of information related to delays and cancellations,” he said. Ohunayo recalled that at a recent outing during at Akwaaba Conference, held in Lagos, the issue of flight delays and cancellations was discussed. “One thing that was commonly agreed was that there is that bottleneck at about seven am in the morning. For those first flights, there is that bottleneck at the two domestic terminals of the Lagos airport, MMA2 and at General Aviation Terminal, known as Terminal 1 (GAT). If that bottleneck starts from the very first flight, quite naturally it is going to cascade to the rest of the flights, and not cascade at reduced time, but at an increased time naturally, and that is how that delay begins to build up, and that ends up that the last flight suffers,” he observed. Ohunayo added that the delays that snowballed from the beginning of the flight operations may lead to the cancellation of flights to sunset airports. “There are a number of flights that are departing at almost the same time. So, happily, we heard that Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) are now working on the apron side to clear, to get more space for aircraft to park and move, that is good news, and that is also a reflection of that report. So, what we want to see is the airlines and the regulator working together to minimize, not just coming out to argue over statistics and the cost of delay, but how that can be minimised, and improve the general integrity of scheduled operations in Nigeria,” he said. Spokesman of Air Peace, Efeoghene Osifo-Whiskey, told THISDAY: “Beyond the immediate operational disruption lies an equally consequential passenger, commercial and reputational burden. Delays and cancellations trigger a chain of recovery obligations: passengers have to be re-accommodated on subsequent services, accumulated passenger loads must be absorbed into already planned rotations, eligible refund requests processed, and welfare interventions provided where circumstances require them. “These recovery measures carry substantial direct and indirect costs while disrupted inventory, cancelled sectors and displaced bookings translate into foregone revenue and additional operational expenditure. More difficult to quantify is the effect on passenger confidence. Travelers experience disruption through the immediacy of missed engagements, prolonged waiting and uncertainty, and their grievances can quickly migrate from airport terminals to social and traditional media, where an externally induced operational constraint may ultimately be perceived as an airline service failure. “Recent media coverage has reflected precisely this tension, documenting passenger frustration alongside the fuel-related circumstances behind the disruptions. Sustained Jet A1 instability, therefore, presents more than a fuel-supply problem: it creates a cascading operational challenge capable of affecting schedule integrity, passenger experience, commercial performance and, ultimately, the trust an airline works continuously to build and preserve.” The airlines and the concerned agencies need to adopt new strategies at sensitising the passengers. Also, passengers that become violent due to flight delay or cancellation should be punished in accordance to the law and this should be made public as deterrence to others.