Flight Delays Worsen At Lagos Airport

Persistent flight delays and cancellations by Nigerian airlines have assumed a frightening dimension at the Lagos airport, P.M.NEWS can reveal.

In some instances, it was discovered, air travellers waited for over six hours before their flight took off or was cancelled.

Passengers with Air Nigeria, Arik Air, Chanchangi Airline, Dana Airline, Aero Contractors and others have told tales of agonising waits at the General Aviation Terminal, GAT, and the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, MMA2 in Lagos State, South West Nigeria. Investigations revealed that the delays and cancellations are mostly caused by operational inefficiencies rather than technical or natural challenges.

In some instances, it was discovered that a disagreement between an airline and fuel marketers can linger for hours and may lead to long delays and sometimes, outright cancellation of scheduled flight.

As passengers wait for hours at terminal buildings, airlines keep mum and when they do speak blame the cancellation or delay on bad weather.

But, our source who works with an airline but pleaded for anonymity for fear of losing his job said: “bad weather is the easiest reason we give. In reality flight delays are caused by numerous reasons. For instance, when we buy fuel, we buy in bulk and we have to pay for it in advance. But, sometimes, there is no cash at hand and we are delayed by fuel marketers. As we keep running back and forth to the bank, a huge amount of time is lost.

“Sometimes, the money that is to be used for fuel is diverted to other uses and when the time to get the fuel comes, we begin to negotiate with marketers and they delay us and we have to cancel some flights.

“Every flight that is delayed in Lagos has spillover effects on flights in Kano, Abuja, Kaduna or on other routes. This is because the aircraft that takes people to Abuja, may be the same that will pick passengers in Kano and so on.

“The operational manager then looks at the available aircraft and orders it to take off to save the day. While all this is happening behind the scene, we try to pacify passengers by telling them that the flight will be delayed for some minutes. After some minutes, we tell them again that the flight will be delayed for another 30 minutes until the situation normalises.

“We are worried also by flight delays and cancellations but we are trying to move the business back to profitability, we have no choice. We must survive.”

Fidelia Njeze, Aviation minister, who reacted recently to several complaints received by the ministry summarised the situation thus: “In the past few months, the NCAA has received several complaints through its consumer protection unit by aggrieved passengers who have been badly treated in one way or the other by some airlines within and outside the country. For instance, this year alone, between January and September, the consumer protection unit received approximately 46,998 complaints pertaining to lost baggage, flight delays, cancellations and poor in-flight service. I use this opportunity to appeal to operators to remind their personnel of the need for proper treatment of passengers, especially Nigerians, wherever they may be.”

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, the industry regulator, is said to be working on a law that will punish airlines that delay or cancel flights without safety reasons.

Sam Adurogboye, NCAA spokesperson, said recently that the agency was on the verge of formulating regulations that will spell out penalties for specific offences by airlines regarding flight delays and cancellations.

“Airlines are required to put passengers in hotel if an international flight is cancelled after check-in. This, however, does not apply to local airlines. When there is a delay on the domestic route, passengers are expected to be served refreshments and offered an explanation as to the cause of the delay. Airlines are expected to communicate the reasons for any delay on time,” Adurogboye said.

The internationally recommended standards on passenger safety, comfort and general rules on carriage as contained in the Montreal Convention on consumers’ right, to which Nigeria is a signatory, is yet to be domesticated in Nigeria.

For international routes, when an airline reasonably expects a flight to be delayed beyond the scheduled time for departure, passengers are entitled to meals and refreshments in relation to the waiting time and two free telephone calls or emails or faxes. But these are not offered to Nigerian travellers in most cases.

—Simon Ateba