The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has reacted to a pronouncement by the chairman, senate committee on aviation, Mr. Smart Adeyemi for saying that domestic airlines have had the habit of delaying passengers for close to nine hours and should they fail to turn over a new leaf, foreign airlines would be invited to take over domestic operations in the country.
NewsGazette, had, in its February 11, 2022 story entitled ‘We’ll invite foreign airlines to take over domestic operations – Adeyemi’ quoted the Kogi West lawmaker as saying that the domestic airlines were taking Nigerian air travellers for a ride by offering them poor services.
Adeyemi who stated this during the joint senate and house of representatives committees on aviation oversight visit to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in Lagos said the airlines are making much money than they did prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that commercial activities were picking up at many of the country’s airports thereby making airlines not to regard passengers.
“And what is happening is that because many airports are gradually becoming active you see a plane that was scheduled to cover two routes covering seven per day. And they assume passengers have no choice. Well, they have a choice; there is a government to protect the interests of those who don’t have a choice.
“So, if the domestic airlines can no longer perform their roles and meet their obligations to passengers we will ask them to pack up. If there are no airlines operating in Nigeria we will call for foreign airlines to come and operate in Nigeria.”
In its reaction, AON in a press release captioned ‘AON dismayed by senator’s comments, sets record straight on causes of delays and cancellations’ said Adeyemi’s comments only serve to aggravate sentiments and send out the wrong message to passengers and the general public.
It stated that airlines do no delay or cancel flights for the fun of it for it stressing flight delay/cancellation is an ill wind that blows no carrier any good, economically.
It warned “high profile and respected public office holders to seek for information first so that they have the insights they need to help solve the solvable problems that hinder the domestic air transport system.”
The AON further stated that scheduled airlines globally, Nigeria inclusive, are set up with strict adherence to flight times.
“These schedules are put in place not only for the benefit of customers but also to allow the airlines maximize the use of their aircraft in order to meet up with their laid out targets over a period of time and ensure their safety and sustainability.
‘It is therefore not in the interest of any airline, whether in Nigeria or anywhere else, to delay or cancel flights as this has severe financial and image consequences. For these reasons, delays and cancellations are therefore the last thing any airline wants.
“While flight delays and cancellations occur over the world, it is however instructive to note that in Nigeria, 80 per cent of the causes of delays and cancellations are due to factors that are neither in the control of airlines nor caused by them.
“This is why AON invites the public to be aware that airlines operating in Nigeria are forced to operate in an environment that is wrought with infrastructure deficiencies that are highly disruptive to normal schedule reliability and on time performance.
“Any airline in the world forced to operate under the domestic Nigerian circumstances would be bogged down by delays that they have no control over,” it said.
The domestic airlines’ union organisation listed 16 causes – that are infrequent – of flight delays and cancellations to include weather, inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested aprons at domestic terminals in Lagos (popularly known as GAT and MM2, restrictions caused by sunset airports, delays due to VIP movement, frequent bird strikes and foreign object damage, unavailability and ever rising cost of aviation fuel (JetA1), unavailability of Forex for spare parts and maintenance and delays from customs in clearing of safety critical spare parts.
Others are poor air traffic flow, inadequate check-in counters, inadequate screening and exit points at departure, unserviceable baggage claim machines (carousel), inadequate and unreliable ground services equipment for boarding and disembarkation of passengers, unruly behavior of passengers and failure to obey rules, lack of runway lights and unforeseen circumstances due to component failures and ground accidents.
The AON therefore solicited the awareness and understanding of the general traveling public to the issues “as our member airlines continue to work hard together to get passengers to their destinations safely and expeditiously as possible.”
