According to the operators, while flight delays and
cancellations occur all over the world, 80 per cent of the disruptions in
Nigeria are due to factors that are neither in the control of airlines nor
caused by them.
This is in reaction to comments made by the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi on delay of passengers for four to
nine hours, and his proposal that foreign airlines would be invited to operate
domestic flights, if local carriers fail to sit up.
According to a statement by AON obtained by JournalNG, it
listed the causes to include bad weather conditions; inadequate aircraft
parking space; restrictions caused by sunset airports; delays due to VIP
movement; frequent Bird Strikes and Foreign Object Damage (FOD); unavailability
and ever rising cost of aviation fuel; unavailability of forex for spare parts
and maintenance; delays from Customs in clearing of safety critical spare
parts; Poor air traffic flow; Inadequate Check-in Counters; unserviceable
baggage claim machines (Carousel); lack of runway lights amongst many others.
The statement was signed by Alhaji Yunusa S. Abdulmunaf of
the AON, Barr. Allen Onyema and endorsed by Alhaji Shehu Wada – Max Air, Dr.
Obiora Okonkwo – United Nigeria Airlines, Capt. Mfon Udom – Ibom Air, Capt. Roy
Ilegbodu – Arik Air; Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood – Aero Contractors, Alhaji Faisal
Abdulmunaf – Azman Air, Capt. Edward Boyo – Overland Airways, Mr. Afolabi
Babawande – Green Africa and Mr. Sukh Mann – Dana Air.
The AON further said that it is not in the interest of
airlines anywhere in the world to delay or cancel flights, as auch has severe financial
and image consequences.
The statement read in part: ”Weather – Due to the lack of
basic navigational and visual aids at most airports across the country,
airlines are forced to delay flights unnecessarily, waiting for visibility to
improve either at departure or destination airports. This is the major cause of
delays in the months of October to March every year (with the harmattan dust
haze and fog) and this impacts the entire system significantly.
Almost every morning, the first flights to several
destinations are delayed, affecting the schedule of the airline for the rest of
the day. This issue of lack of navigational and visual aids at most of the
airports in the country accounts for more than 50% of the delays in the system,
for which airlines unfairly always take the fall.
“Inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested Aprons –
Both domestic terminals in Lagos (popularly known as GAT and MM2), which are
the main hubs and turnaround points for the vast majority of the local
industry, are severely capacity constrained to the point of constituting a
safety hazard to the industry.
“Unfortunately, lack of planning by the concerned
authorities over the years has led to a deficit in airside infrastructure at
both terminals, causing aircraft to park in a chaotic manner, where many
aircraft get hemmed in by other aircraft.
“Restrictions caused by Sunset Airports – Again, because of
a deficit in navigational and visual aids, most of the airports in Nigeria are
open between 6am and 6pm. Once an airline misses this window as a result of one
or more of the above mentioned delays, airlines are forced to cancel scheduled
flights to such destinations.
“Delays due to VIP movement – The practice of closing the
airspace for security reasons to allow the President, Vice President or other
VIPs to either depart or arrive, is a significant causal factor of
unpredictable and unforeseeable delays in the system. This is no fault of
airlines but yet another delay cause for which the domestic airlines take the
fall for the entire system on a daily basis.
“Frequent Bird Strikes and Foreign Object Damage (FOD) –
Bird strikes and Foreign Objects damage many aircraft during landing, taxiing
or takeoff at airports across the country, thereby forcing the aircraft to be
parked abruptly until a replacement can be marshaled to operate a flight. A lot
can be done about this by the concerned authorities, but the airlines again
bear the brunt of the failue to address this key issue.
“Unavailability and ever rising cost of Aviation Fuel –
JetA1 today costs above N410 in Lagos, N422 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and
N429 in Kano per litre and has continued to rise fast and steadily. On top of
the continuous rise in the fuel price, fuel supply is at best epileptic at
several airports thereby causing delays.
“Unavailability of Forex for spare parts and maintenance –
Airlines carryout most of their activities in dollars which today sells for
between N580 to N600 and is in short supply. Nigeria’s domestic airlines are in
a ‘life and death’ struggle to secure the Forex they need to acquire their
spare parts to maintain their aircraft.
This is a major influence on how quickly a grounded aircraft
can be fixed and restored to its flight schedule, which in turn has a huge
impact on the schedule reliability of the domestic airlines.
“Delays from Customs in clearing of Safety critical spare
parts – Many airlines cannot clear their aircraft spare parts for weeks or
months due to Customs bottlenecks… Poor air traffic flow – Sometimes airlines
have to wait on the ground in a queue for long periods before being given
clearance for takeoff. This goes a long way to affect its arrival and next
departure times.
“Lack of Runway Lights – Sometimes airlines are forced to
taxi for long periods due to unavailability of runway lights on a particular
runway. This further extends the operational time between flights”.
The group urged public office holders to seek for
information in order to have insights they need to help solve the problems that
is hindering the domestic air transport system.
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