Flight disruptions: NCAA decries 190 cancellations, 5,200 delays in two months

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has expressed grave concerns regarding flight disruptions, revealing that 190 domestic flights were cancelled and over 5,200 delayed in just two months.

The Acting Director-General Chris Najomo while speaking on Friday, at the stakeholders’s meeting in NCAA annexe, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja, with the theme “Finding Lasting Solution to Flight Disruption”, emphasised the need for airlines to manage these disruptions professionally, especially during the challenging harmattan season.

Najomo reiterated the mandatory nature of passenger rights regulations and warned of penalties for non-compliance.

He said, “Air travel is not just about transporting passengers from one point to another; it is about doing so with reliability, efficiency, and accountability. When delays and cancellations occur, they disrupt plans, cause financial losses, and undermine passenger confidence in our aviation system.

“Delays and cancellations are sometimes inevitable, but poor management of these disruptions is not. It is the responsibility of airlines to ensure that every disruption, whether due to operational, technical, or weather-related challenges, is handled with the utmost professionalism and regard for passengers’ rights. Particularly as we are in the harmattan season with poor weather conditions that will affect flight operations.

​“Our flight operations data record indicates that in September, 2024, five thousand two hundred and ninety-one domestic flights were operated with 2,434 delays and 79 cancellations.
In October, 2024, 5,513 flights were operated with 2,791 delays and 111 cancellations recorded.”

However, the DG reiterated that the NCAA remains committed to working with airlines to enhance service delivery and restore public confidence in Nigeria’s aviation sector.

Speaking with the journalists at the sideline of the conference, Najomo highlighted the urgent need to address unruly passenger behaviour after the Vice President of Airwings also double as the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, mentioned unruly passengers as one of the major challenges for flight cancellations and delays.

However, Najomo emphasised that such actions are unacceptable, urging passengers to act responsibly, especially during peak travel periods.

He said, “These same passengers will not do this when they are abroad. And of course, it’s telling an airline will not sell tickets and delay or cancel, and for so many reasons, we’ll find out if there’s a sunset airport or weather related and flights are cancelled or delayed, it shouldn’t call for unruly behaviour, and it was becoming very bad for the country. I got calls from the presidency, of the National Assembly. ‘What am I doing?’ So I know that if we sit down together and speak with the airlines, we interact as what we have done, they have their own you know, like I said you don’t try and trim down your schedule. If you have 10 flights, trim it down.”

While advising the airlines, he noted, “If you have problems, let the CPOs of the NCAA know on time, and also let FAAN know on time. But you know, if you want to do everything on your own, it will escalate. And that is what is happening there, escalating it. And we have come here. We have, you know talked, we have robbed minds and going further going forward, we’ll know that we know what’s going to come out of this space indefinitely.”

He however, vowed that he’d make a statement about unruly passengers, stating that unruly behaviour is not acceptable and It would never be acceptable.

“Every passenger has their rights, but they have their responsibilities too. You cannot come and destroy properties if your flight was cancelled, the flights are cancelled all over the world and are delayed all over the world. You don’t do that when you’re abroad,” he added.

Also addressing the journalists about unruly passengers, the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, said flight cancellations are global and affect all regions.

She thereby urged better communication among airlines to protect passengers from unruly behaviour.

Also she enjoined passengers to ensure their contact details are accurate when booking flights to receive timely updates.

“I also want to use this opportunity to encourage passengers to make sure that they have access to the right information. So if you have a travel agent helping you to book your ticket, please make sure that it is your email address or your phone number, so that you get information from the flight. We’ve spoken to the airlines as well to give us better information so that we can communicate to passengers in terms of what we’re doing,” she said.

In his remark, the Chairman of Air Peace Onyema, emphasised the need for acceptable behaviour at airports, condemning disruptions caused by passengers during delays and cancellations, stressing that such actions exacerbate flight issues, leading to a cycle of operational setbacks.

He, however, called for improved communication and accountability among passengers, urging them to recognise the impact of their actions on the airline industry.

“So most of these people know the truth. How do you communicate to somebody who has already been instigated or sponsored to come there for a particular purpose, to cause harm, and when they give you information and tell you, Oh, we didn’t receive messages this and that maybe four people out of 170 people on a flight said they didn’t receive the message. Mind you, it’s a push of the button, and it’s technology, and the message goes to everybody.

“However, some five or 10 people will come and make trouble and say that their line didn’t communicate. It is a lie. They must have bought their tickets through third parties, or they themselves didn’t even go, look at their lives over 160 people flew back up to their flight, however, we will continue improving communications,” Onyema added.

In attendance at the conference were the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Ahmed Farouk, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Professor Charles Anosike, the Airline Operators of Nigeria, and other esteemed stakeholders.