The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has said that data gathering and distribution is one of the major hiccups affecting the growth and stability of the country’s aviation industry.
The apex regulatory body in the sector, however, said it took responsibility for this, but assured that there would be some improvement soon.
Mr. Michael Achimugu, the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, stated this recently at the NCAA Consumer Protection National Stakeholders Summit in Lagos with the theme: ‘Achieving Increased Adoption of Digital Technology in Air Travel Customer Complaint Management: The Regulatory Perspective.’
Achimugu, explained that most of the agencies and organisations, including airlines in the sector, churn out inaccurate data to the public without due diligence.
According to him, the NCAA was supposed to be the custodian of data information in the industry, emphasising that the agency would address the issue very soon.
He said: “We take responsibility for this. We are implementing our method of data collection. We will be more efficient. There is a data problem in the NCAA. There are discrepancies in data collation in the aviation industry and among the airlines. When you go to different organisations, you will get different data from them, including the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and others.”
Daily Independent had exclusively reported recently how the 13 domestic airlines had 48 per cent flights delayed in the first half of 2024, while additional 2 per cent flights were cancelled within the period.
In all, the domestic airlines had a combined 19,250 flight delays, while 696 of their 35,398 flights were outrightly cancelled.
Our correspondent had published the data from the Executive Summary obtained from the NCAA.
Prior to this time, some of the airline operators had consistently showcased between 80 per cent to 85 per cent on-time departure and reliability.
According to the Executive Summary, Dana Air, whose operations were suspended on April 24, 2024 over alleged safety concerns had the highest number of delays with 69 per cent out of its 1,446 operated.
In all, the airline had 999 delays within the four months period of its operations.
Further breakdown of the executive summary indicated that Aero Contractor had 37 per cent delays with 1,992 operations, out of which 740 flights were delayed.
Besides, Arik Air had 59 per cent delays, indicating 1,378 delays out of its 2,331 flights operated within the period.
Also, Overland Airways operated 1,227 flights with 696 delays, showing 57 per cent delays.
Air Peace, the biggest Nigerian airline, had 11,111 flights with 5,350 of the flights delayed, representing 48 per cent.
Max Air operated 2,297 flights, out of which 1,247 of which were delayed, indicating 54 per cent of total delays between January and June 2024.
Besides, Ibom Air, which operated 3,879 flights within the period under review, had 1,508 delays, showing 39 per cent of the total delays within the period.
For United Nigeria Airlines, it operated 3,912 flights within the period, had 2,439 delays, showing 62 per cent of total delays, according to the document.
Also, Green Africa Airways operated 2,368 flights, had 836 delays, showing that 35 per cent of its flights were delayed within the period.
For ValueJet, it performed 1,659 flights within the period, had 582 flight delays, showing 35 per cent of its total delays by the airline within the period under review.
Rano Air operated 2,464 in six months with 761 delays within the period, indicating 31 per cent delays.
NG Eagle, which commenced scheduled flight services last December, operated 567 flights with 333 delays, indicating 59 per cent of flight delays.
Also, the executive summary showed that Azman Air operated 145 flights in the first half of 2024, but had 76 delays, indicating 52 per cent of delays within the period.
Aero Contractors had 33 cancelled flights, which is 2 per cent of its total flights; Arik Air had 32 cancelled flights, indicating 1 per cent of its total operations.
Besides, Overland Airways had 57 cancelled flights, showing 5 per cent of its total flights; Air Peace had 294 cancelled flights, showing 3 per cent of its total flights; Max Air had 23 flight cancellations, representing 1 per cent of its total flights.
Also, Ibom Air had 71 cancelled flights, showing 2 per cent of its total flights within the period; United Nigeria had 82 flights cancelled in the first half of 2024, showing 2 per cent of its total flights and Green Africa had 50 of its scheduled flights cancelled, showing 2 per cent within the period.
ValueJet had 18 of its 1,659 flights cancelled within the period, showing 1 per cent of its total operations; Rano Air had 14 per cent cancelled flights, showing 1 per cent delays; NG Eagle had 15 flight delays out of its 2,464 flights, showing 1 per cent of its flights.
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