Nigerian air travellers were forced to make alternative plans or reschedule travel plans 11,629 times due to delayed flights or outright cancellations by 36 international and domestic airlines in the first quarter of 2023.
According to a report from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority tagged ‘Executive summary on international and domestic flight operations’, a total of 11,321 (over 53 per cent) flight delays were recorded out of 21,295 flights while 308 flights were cancelled outrightly.
An analysis of the report showed that all domestic airlines cancelled flights with Air Peace leading at 63, followed by Max Air at 56. Other airlines such as Arik Air had 43 cancellations, Aero Contractors; 40, Azman Air; 20, Green Africa;16, ValueJet and Overland had 15 cancelled flights while Ibom Air, Dana Air and United Airlines recorded two, nine and five cancellations respectively.
On international flights, Lufthansa Airlines had six cancellations, Qatar Air; four, Rwand Air; three, Asky Airlines; three while Delta Airline, British Airways, Air Peace (international routes), Air Cote D’Ivoire, KLM Airlines had only one flight cancellation.
For flight delays, the report stated that international airlines accounted for 1,193 delays, with Ethiopian Airlines and Asky Airlines having the highest number of delays at 115 and 107, respectively, out of 270 and 295 flights. A further breakdown of the delays for international airlines indicates; Africa World Airlines had 97 delays, Air Cote d’Ivoire; 92, Air France; 25, Air Peace (international routes); 167, BADR Airlines; 15, British Airways; 83, Cronos Airlines; nine, Delta Airlines; 17 and Egypt Air 96 – delayed flights in the first quarter of 2023.
Other airlines with delayed flights included – Kenya Airways 47, KLM Airlines 22, Lufthansa Airlines 19, Middle East Airlines 4, Qatar Airways 82, Royal Air Maroc 32 Rwandair 65, Saudi Airlines 28, South African Airways 8, TAAG Angola 6, Tarco Airlines 2, Turkish Airlines 43, United Airlines 1 and Virgin Atlantic Airways 11 – delayed flights.
On the domestic front, 11 domestic operators had a total of 10,128 flight delays. Air Peace accounted for 37 per cent of the total delayed flights of 3,754 out of their 6,521 flight operations, indicating a delay rate of about 60 per cent of their flight operations.
Other local airlines with delays included Aero Contractors; 624, Arik Air 926, Azman Air 385, Dana Air 472, Overland Airways 605, Ibom Air 746, United Nigeria Airways 910, Green Africa Airways 443 and Value Jet with 248 flight delays within the period.
