– Air Peace highest with 523, 130 (34.4%) passengers in 3,262 flights (31%);
– Arik Air, had 37 out of the total 54 cancellations and delayed 244 of the 295 delayed flights
Nigerian airlines airlifted about 1, 514,616 passengers in the first quarter of 2017, reports from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revealed.
According to the NCAA, domestic airlines operated 10, 366 flights during the period under review, with Air Peace operating the highest number of 3, 262 flights. The airline airlifted 289,613 inbound passengers and 233,517 outbound passengers, totaling 523, 130, which is about 34.5 percent of the total passenger movement during the period.
The NCAA also noted that there were a lot of flight delays by both domestic and international airlines added to high number of flight cancellations in the first quarter. Arik Air led in flight cancellations for regional and international routes, which recorded 37 out of the total 54 cancelled flights and delayed 244 of the 295 flights it operated on the regional and international routes in the period under review.
The report also showed that international airlines operated a total of 3,033 flights into Nigeria, out of which a total of 1,220 of the 3,033 (40.2 percent) flights were delayed. Also, a total number of 54 flights, representing 1.7 percent, were cancelled by the 30 airlines on the regional and international routes in the quarter.
Out of the 54 cancelled flights, Arik Air had 37, which represented 68.5% of cancelled flights within the period. Others were Delta Air Lines cancelled flights 3; Med-View Airways 3; Asky Airlines 2; South African Airways 2; Virgin Atlantic Airways 2; British Airways 1; Cronos Air 1; Ethiopian Airline 1; Kenya Airways 1; and Lufthansa 1.
Airlines with no cancelled flights within the period were Air Peace, Aero Contractors, African World, Air Cote D’Ivoire, Air France, Camair-Co, Dana Air, Egypt Air, Emirates, Etihad, KLM, Meridiana, Middle East, Qatar, Royal Air Marco, Rwandair, Saudi Air, Sudan Airlines and Turkish Airlines, which operate on the regional route.
While Air Peace delayed seven of its 36 flights out of Nigeria in the first quarter, the NCAA report said Arik Air led in the number of delayed flights. It delayed 244 of its 295 flights on the regional and international routes.
The report was received amidst the call by industry experts on the airlines to sustain the current safety record being enjoyed in the country by ensuring that they keep to the maintenance standard of their aircraft types, notwithstanding the forex challenges and the high cost of maintenance.
Group Captain John Ojikutu, the former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Secretary of Aviation Round Table (ART), said that cutting corners in terms of maintenance is a major challenge for Nigerian airlines because of the present cash crunch in the country, noting that “the talk about old or new aircraft does not matter; that what matters is maintenance.”
Speaking in the same vein, a former CEO of Nigeria Airways Limited and currently the Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Skypower Express Airways, Captain Mohammed Joji said that there is nothing like old aircraft when it is properly maintained, noting that what is always important is how properly an airline maintains its fleet.
According to him, “An old aircraft is as good as new when it is properly maintained but a new aircraft is as bad as old aircraft when it is not properly maintained. All aircraft are new when they are properly maintained and you could be operating them until you are tired or you change them for economic reasons.”
