…Private jets now 4 times commercial planes’ size
Passengers are increasingly crowding airports’ terminals across the country, waiting for planes that would not arrive.
Airlines delay and sometimes cancel flights due to the high cost of spare parts and maintenance that have forced several players to park their planes across various airports.
A glance at the airside of Murtala Mohammed airport, Lagos, gives an impression of several ready-to-fly airplanes. In reality, however, the aircraft have been parked for months, with missing vital parts.
In the last few months, only a few planes have had to feed several passengers on domestic routes as Nigerian airlines struggle with fleet reduction due to high cost of maintenance.
Some airlines that have sent their planes on maintenance are unable to return them as a result of skyrocketing costs due to the foreign exchange crunch in the nation.
Others have been forced by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground their aircraft for their inability to send them for maintenance, BusinessDay’s checks show.
The development has led to several flight delays and cancellations by airlines who can no longer meet up with schedules as few aircraft struggle to service many destinations.
On a daily basis, airlines operating in Nigeria delay over 50 percent of their flights and sometimes eventually cancel some.
“My 5pm flight to Lagos from Abuja on Wednesday has been moved to 10pm. This is the crisis passengers have had to suffer in recent times,” a passenger who would not want to be mentioned told BusinessDay.
Njideka Johnson, a disgruntled passenger, had reached out to BusinessDay to complain that her flight from Abuja to Lagos was delayed for about three hours and eventually cancelled.
“On Thursday, my flight from Abuja to Lagos was cancelled without any convincing reason. This has been the case with almost all airlines in Nigeria. You get to book a flight but can’t guarantee the flight would operate,” Johnson said.
She said the same situation played out when her husband booked an Abuja-Uyo flight, which was delayed for several hours and eventually cancelled.
Sarah, another passenger who booked a flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt, said she spent over three hours at the airport on Tuesday, yet the flight was yet to arrive.
Read also: Keyamo directs foreign airlines to patronize local caterers for onboard meals
“You get to wonder whether the Nigerian airports are still processing passengers and flights because the number of apology messages by airlines explaining why they are unable to fly is now countless.
“Sitting here at the Lagos airport for three hours, I can count more than five airlines announcing their inability to operate their scheduled flights as a result of operational reasons,” Sarah said.
As a result of the increasing number of flight delays and cancellations, the NCAA, four weeks ago, introduced its Consumer Protection Portal, an initiative aimed at addressing passengers’ complaints in their interface with airlines and aviation agencies.
The portal offers a comprehensive platform where passengers can lodge complaints, access real-time data on airline performance, and monitor punctuality and on-time operations of airlines.
Four weeks after the introduction of the portal, events have remained the same with more flight delays and cancellations.
“The portal introduced by the NCAA has not changed the status quo. Things have even got worse as these airlines who often get away after several flight delays now do this at will,” Adekunle Jude, a passenger, told BusinessDay.
Jude said the NCAA should come out with sanctions for airlines that delay or cancel flights without any cogent reason.
Read also: FG begins nationwide inspection to curb unfair prices, weights, measurements
“I understand there is a scarcity of aircraft now, but airlines should not sell tickets to destinations they know they can’t operate because they do not have the capacity. That is a criminal act that should be punished,” he added.
In a recent paper presented at an event by Ifueko Abdulmalik, assistant general manager, Flight Operations & Adjudication, NCAA, disclosed that 53 percent of total flights operated in Nigeria in 2023 were delayed and one percent cancelled.
Stakeholders say the number of flight delays should have increased, considering the depletion of fleet size in Nigeria.
Data obtained by BusinessDay from NCAA showed that 13 domestic airlines in Nigeria operate a total of 91 aircraft. This data includes aircraft that have gone on maintenance.
Private jets are rising
According to a report obtained from the Ministerial Taskforce on Illegal Air Charter Operations, which was established by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, to monitor the activities of private jet owners in the industry, the number of private business aircraft operating in Nigeria has increased from 44 in 2005 to 157 in 2024, a 357 percent increase in less than 20 years.
This shows that the number of private jets operating in Nigeria currently are almost four times the size of aircraft operated by commercial airlines.
Earlier in the year, Festus Keyamo, minister of Aviation and Aerospace, had said the federal government is set to arrest and sanction illegal flights and non-certified personnel.
Keyamo had accused new private jet owners of approaching aviation regulators to request approval to use their aircraft to fly family or friends. However, after obtaining the required license, they started commercial flights. The federal government is planning to start collecting import duties for the jets.
Olumide Ohunayo, industry analyst and director of research at Zenith Travels, hinted that while the actions of the federal government would address anomalies in the sector, it would mean that only fewer operators will be flying, which would lead to an increase in fares.
