‘Air Peace suffered 18 bird strikes in six months’

THE recent data released by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) indicating that 101,028 flights were delayed within the first three months while 284 flights were cancelled by the domestic airlines in the country has continued to generate reactions from the local airlines.

The NCAA data which indirectly indicted the domestic airlines is being contested by some of the local airlines which have argued that the regulatory body deliberately remained silent on factors that often lead to flight cancellations and delays in Nigeria.

According to some of the domestic carriers, the incidents of flight cancellations and delays being experienced on the domestic scene can be traced to many factors ranging from bad weather to scarcity of aviation fuel and many more.

Lending his voice against the NCAA data, the chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema accused the regulatory body of rolling out the figures without listing the remote causes of the cancellations and delays.

Onyema, while presenting a paper at the Q2 2023 Brunch Business Meeting organised by Aviation Safety and Round Table Initiatives (ASRTI) with the theme ‘Agenda For A New Administration’ in Lagos, listed several factors hampering the operations of the domestic carriers to include: bird strikes, VIP movements, lack of space, inclement weather conditions, negligence on the part of passengers, amongst others.

Onyema, who coincidentally is the Vice President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), challenged the NCAA to come out with the attendant causes of delays and cancellations of flights alongside the figures it rolled out in the data.

He cited how his airline had suffered 18 bird strikes incidents this year alone, with two suffered in a day at the Benin airport which he said cost the airline millions of dollars to repair the affected aircraft.

While wondering whose responsibility it is to chase wild life in the airport vicinity, Onyema lamented how airlines are forced to ground their planes having suffered  bird strikes, a situation he said often lead to flight delays and incapacity of the affected airline.

The airline chief equally cited natural phenomena like bad weather which at times may cause flight delay/cancellation even as he also accused passengers of contributing to the plights of the domestic airlines.

Rather than lump the whole blames on the local carriers, Onyema called on the NCAA to be fair enough by apportioning blames to every other actor that has one role or the other to play.

According to him, under the unfriendly environment the local airlines operate, even if the best international airlines are invited to operate within the same environment, such foreign carriers may not last 72 hours.