Infrastructural gaps across Nigerian airports in the country has worsened flight delays and cancellations. This realization comes at a time when the condition of roads and rampant insecurity across the country has forced average Nigerians to rather travel by air.
According to figures by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) on passenger traffic obtained by BusinessDay, passenger traffic increased by 16,371,674 in 2018 from 13,706,345 in 2017, showing a 19.4 percent increase.
Also Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu airports saw a surge in passenger traffic for the first quarter of 2019 with increase from 11,842 passengers in first quarter 2018 to 13,762 in 2019, representing a 16.21percent increase.
No doubt, Nigerian airlines have in the last few months experienced increase in passenger patronage and expectedly are working round the clock to meet demands.
Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest carrier in particular appeared to be prepared for the surge in influx of passengers as it recently placed a firm order for 10 brand new Embraer 195-E2 aircraft. The order comprises purchase rights for another 20 E195-E2 jets also, 124-seater jet in dual class and 146-seater jet in single class configurations respectively.
With all purchase rights exercised, the contract is valued at N640.5 billion ($2.12 billion) based on current list prices.
Air Peace also set a regional record in September 2018 when it ordered 10 brand new aircraft from Boeing, increasing its fleet size then to about 37 aircraft. With the new order, Air Peace’s fleet size has increased to 67 aircraft.
Other domestic carriers have also stepped up to the challenge with the return of aircraft that had gone on maintenance for some months.
Flight delays and cancellations
However, despite the appreciable number of equipment to meet up with demand, flight cancellations and delays appear to be on the increase.
According to the latest record released by the Consumer Protection Department of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), domestic airlines operating in Nigeria recorded 7,926 cases of delayed flights in the first quarter of this year (between January and March 2019) alone. This represents more than 50 per cent of the flights within the period under review.
These data confirm that flights hardly take off at scheduled time in Nigeria and more worrisome is that all the aforementioned airlines operated an average number of four aircraft or less during this period, except Air Peace, which operated about 18 aircraft on domestic routes and recorded about 90 flights a day.
Ordinarily, it is expected that airlines with fewer number of aircraft operate fewer destinations and therefore should record timely flight take-off because they are unencumbered by complex scheduling challenges, which airlines that operate many flights face.
Concerns have therefore been raised on why airlines continue to delay flights despite the lack of complexities in flight schedules and adequate equipment to meet surge in passenger numbers.
Air Peace, few weeks ago cancelled all its flights to Enugu International Airport over flooding of the runway. The airline was unable to operate into the airport as the runway was not safe to land or take off as a result of the flood.
BusinessDay’s checks show that no major maintenance has been carried out on the runway between 1977 and 2014 when Ethiopian Airlines was given clearance to fly to the airport.
Causes of flight delays
While it is understandable that airlines may delay and cancel flights over technical and weather-related constraints and very little can be done to remedy some of these problems like weather-related ones, but infrastructural gaps continue to pose a huge challenge.
Infrastructural challenge
In Nigeria, passengers spend unduly long time at security screening points because of insufficient number of X-ray machines, therefore passengers are forced to queue at security screening points, especially at peak hours.
In other climes, it takes between 30 seconds to two minutes to get screened but in Nigerian airports, it takes between five and 15 minutes to get screened depending on the number of passengers waiting to be checked. For example, Air Peace and Arik Air face a lot of delay processing passengers at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos because there is only one functional X-ray machine at any point in time and hundreds of passengers going to different destinations during the morning rush hours must pass through one functional X-ray machine at each of the terminals at the GAT.
John Ojikutu, member of aviation industry think tank group, Aviation Round Table (ART) and chief executive of Centurion Securities listed some of the infrastructural gaps that cause flight delays at Nigerian airports to include inadequate checking-in-counters; inadequate passengers screening checkpoints and screening machines or unserviceable screening machines resulting in manual screening; inadequate aircraft boarding gates; inadequate aircraft parking areas; inadequate ground handling equipment or facilities; and absence of taxiways or sufficient links from aprons to runways.
Ojikutu stressed that inadequate skilled manpower to man most of these facilities or system can cause delays especially the passengers screening checkpoints where the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommended standard is at least five but Nigerian airports have two or three persons.
Other factors he mentioned include “Airspace management; inadequate and inexperience air traffic controllers particularly for aerodromes and approach control can cause delays if the traffic volume is beyond the capacity and capability of the controllers especially if there is no supervisors that can always intervene; inadequate and inefficient landing aids, poor communication both at terminal and enroute and poor weather at destinations, enroute and at alternative airports.”
Alexander Nwuba, managing director, Smile Air Ghana and former MD, Associated Airlines and WestAir Benin told BusinessDay that infrastructural gaps are connected to flight delays.
“I see the issues as interconnected. Airplanes are delayed because everything else is not working; your decision to fly is the result of the lack of the supporting infrastructure. For the most convenient and least expensive means of travel, the flight may not be your best option, but when all factors are considered in many cases, flying is the most viable option given today’s circumstances of kidnappers, herdsmen on highways, bad and dangerous roads.
“The delays may be frustrating but the airline has to face infrastructural challenges to get you to your destination safely,” Nwuba said.
Addressing the infrastructural gaps
The management of Air Peace recently commended the federal government for the decision to close the Enugu international Airport in order to allow a proper repair and maintenance of the airports runway which has given us serious safety concerns.
The airline however suggested that the government should go all out to put everything in place, within the period of the closure, that would make the airport rank among the best international airports in the country.
The airline went on to plead with the government to make the airport a 24-hour flight operations airport by improving the night landing infrastructure,” the airline said.
Apart from the Enugu airport, several other airports do not have night landing infrastructures and this depletes the revenues of the airlines. Therefore an intervention by the government to provide night landing aids across Nigeria airports will benefit not just the airline but the flying public.
Alexandre de Juniac, CEO International Air Transport Association (IATA) said “Having the infrastructure to grow is vital to our industry’s future. But in many key places, it is not being built fast enough to meet growing demand and there are worrying trends which are increasing costs. One of these is airport privatizations.
“We have not found the correct regulatory framework to balance the interests of the investors to turn a profit, with the public interest for the airport to be a catalyst for economic growth. All the optimism supporting strong aircraft orders will mean nothing if we don’t have the capability to manage traffic in the air and at airports,” de Junaic added.
Allen Onyema, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, recently made a case for the upgrade of airports infrastructure across Nigeria.
Onyema said “there is no way you can optimally use your planes in Nigeria. The airport infrastructure does not support that. And that is why we are saying, the first thing we should do in this country is to improve on our airports infrastructure. From check-in to flight navigational aids, making airport environment conducive, both for operators and passengers, the infrastructure is poor.
“There is no way airlines will optimally use their equipment. Air Peace has never, because many of the airports in Nigeria close shop at 6pm. So, when they close shop at 6pm, where will you go to? Besides Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the rest close shop at 6pm,” he said.
“It is a capital intensive business. Every penny counts. We must get our airport infrastructure right. It is not about saying Nigerian airlines are weak. We should promote our own. Bring the legacy airlines of this world to come and do domestic operations in Nigeria, they will pack up in 72 hours. We know what we go through.
“The first thing is the improvement on airport infrastructure and aviation infrastructures generally. It is very key. Don’t let anybody deceive you. This country will never be a hub to anybody or for anybody, except our airports infrastructure are improved upon.”
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