Flight Delays: Need For Nigeria’s Airlines To Be More Responsible And NCAA To Take Charge

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Olufemi Adeniji

The aviation industry is meant to strengthen a nation’s economy and provide reliable transportation for business, family, and emergency travel. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with many Nigerian airlines.

Numerous air passengers – local and foreign, regularly have unpalatable experience to share whenever they are flying locally. The customer relations of many Nigerian airlines is poor and uncommendable, yet the passengers seem helpless whenever their rights are trampled upon by the operators.

Flight delays or cancellations are the most important determinant for consumer dissatisfaction and complaints against airlines. These two are detrimental to the image of any airline’s reputation and result in passengers switching carriers. But in most cases, when delays or cancellations occur in developed aviation countries, the operators take total responsibility and communicate with the affected passengers.

However, my recent experience with one of Nigeria’s domestic airlines – United Nigeria Airlines is nothing to write home about. During my visit to the country in the month of May, I booked a flight from Lagos to Asaba. The flight was scheduled to depart at 7:15a.m to Asaba Airport on May 13. Shockingly, the flight never departed until approximately 10:15p.m, a whopping 15 hours later. My final destination was to Ogidi in Anambra State for the wake of my mother in-law.

Unfortunately, throughout the entire delay, passengers were subjected to confusion, poor communication and unnecessary harassment without any reasonable explanation from the airline or its staff at the Lagos airport. In fact, the scheduled passengers were in depression mode without anyone to attend to their needs.

However, as an aviator, I made some enquiries about the delay. Surprisingly, I discovered that the Asaba flight was not the only affected route of United Nigeria Airlines on the day. Flights to Port Harcourt and Kano and others, some scheduled as early as 2:00p.m, were also severely delayed without proper explanations given to the frustrated passengers.

This situation is deeply disappointing. I travelled to Nigeria for my mother in-law’s funeral, and because of this unacceptable delay, my children were unable to attend their grandmother’s burial. Many other passengers on the same flight also missed important family events, business meetings and personal obligations.

Airlines cannot operate efficiently without adequate aircraft fleets and qualified crew members. Poor scheduling and operational failures negatively affect passengers’ lives, businesses, and confidence in the aviation system. How can people reliably schedule business meetings or important family occasions under these conditions?

Due to the uncertainty and lack of confidence in the return journey, I requested a return ticket on a different airline, Enugu Air to be precise. My expectations and fears with United Nigeria Airlines were immediately confirmed. The Enugu Air flight departed 10 minutes ahead of schedule and arrived in Lagos on time, allowing me to attend my business meetings and enabling my family to return to the USA as planned.

Ironically, the original return flight from Asaba with United Nigeria Airlines was also delayed again until approximately 5:10p.m instead of morning departure from the airport to Lagos.

This level of operational inefficiency is unacceptable and reflects the urgent need for serious restructuring and accountability within some Nigerian airlines. I have chosen not to address the complaints I heard about other airlines, although many passengers described these delays as a common occurrence in Nigeria’s aviation sector.

I strongly believe that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo should closely examine these persistent delays and implement stricter passenger protection policies, including:

• Mandatory penalties for flight delays exceeding two hour

• Compensation of at least 50 per cent of the ticket fare as travel vouchers for affected passengers

• Hotel accommodation for delays exceeding four hours

• Transportation to and from the airport for stranded passengers

• Mandatory endorsement of passenger tickets to more reliable airlines when operational failures occur

Passengers deserve professionalism, accountability, transparency and respect. Nigeria’s aviation can improve, but only if airlines and regulators take these recurring failures seriously. Nigeria cannot operate in the isolation of global standards.

Olufemi Adeniji is the Chief Executive Officer of United States-based aircraft Brokerage, Nigame Aircraft Consultancy