By Dickson Omobola
With less than 50 days to the commencement of Nigeria’s Yuletide festivities, otherwise known as Detty December, domestic air travellers are worried over the likely increase in flight cancellations and delays across airports in the country.
The period, known for increased travels as Nigerians at home and abroad reunite with loved ones, is also one of the busiest for air transport.
In 2024, Lagos State alone generated $71.6 million from tourism, hospitality and entertainment activities during the festive season, with hotels contributing $44 million and short-let apartments accounting for $13 million.
But with complaints of flight disruptions becoming common across the country, many passengers are worried that their travel plans for Detty December may be affected, especially as road travel is not a safe option.
During the recent customer service week, a passenger expressed this frustration on a social platform, saying he was “extremely disappointed with the multiple delays on my flight today,” adding that “the original departure time was 7:45 pm, but I received an email changing it to 8:25 pm and then another update at 9:00 pm pushing it to 11:30 pm.”
With Christmas and New Year’s Day only weeks away, concerns are mounting that such experiences could worsen when passenger traffic peaks.
Delays, cancellations
Findings by Vanguard revealed that flight delays and cancellations by indigenous airlines during the Yuletide are caused by inadequate capacity to manage increased demand and weather-induced visibility challenges brought on by harmattan, among others.
According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, executive summary on domestic flight operations, of the 5,647 flights operated by 11 carriers, including Aero Contractors, Air Peace, Arik Air, Azman, Dana Air, Green Africa, Ibom Air, Max Air, NG Eagle, Overland, Rano Air and Umza in December 2024, 3,163 flights were delayed, representing 56 per cent of total operations.
The NCAA data also showed that of the 6,863 flights operated by 15 domestic carriers during the same month, only 83 were cancelled.
Further analysis of performance data obtained from two major airlines by Vanguard also gives insight into the scale of the problem.
In December 2023, Nigeria’s largest carrier, Air Peace, operated 2,989 flights, of which 837 were delayed, 161 rescheduled and 37 cancelled. In January 2024, it operated 2,627 flights, recording 761 delays, 316 reschedules and 68 cancellations.
In December 2023, data from Ibom Air showed that the airline operated 1,140 flights, 379 were delayed, 63 rescheduled and two cancelled. In December 2024, it operated 1,038 flights, 259 were delayed and 27 were rescheduled. In January 2025, the airline operated 1,020 flights, 248 were delayed and 127 were rescheduled.
Reasons, solutions
Aviation experts attributed the recurring disruptions to limited fleet capacity, poor inter-airline coordination and fuel scarcity, warning that without better scheduling and collaboration among carriers, the situation will persist.
Speaking to Vanguard on the issue, General Secretary of the Society of Licensed Engineers of Nigeria, SLAMEN, Mr Sheri Kyari, particularly fingered harmattan dust haze and fuel availability, among others, as major causes of delays during the festive period.
Kyari said: “During the Yuletide season, there is a massive movement by many classes of people for various occasions. Flights are usually full, with passengers carrying heavy baggage. Airlines at this period will like to cash in and make serious money. This desire to make lots of money makes airlines want to go everywhere, especially where they have plenty of passengers.
“As a result, they will increase their frequencies with the same size of fleet. Sometimes, they open up new routes with the same fleet size and this results in delayed departures and arrivals. With more passenger baggage, checking time is also prolonged.”
Another factor is that if there are many airlines struggling to increase their frequencies, there will be delays in take-offs and landings as air traffic controllers will be very busy separating aircraft on ground and in the air. Harmattan dust haze can also cause delays if it gets to very low visibility. Fuel availability is another factor that may affect delays.”
He, however, said to reduce disruptions during this Yuletide season, airlines should streamline their fleet to routes they can serve.
Lease
He said: “Another solution is for airlines to lease additional aircraft for at least three months to cover the period of the rush. Airlines should hold meetings with oil marketers to ensure uninterrupted fuel availability within this period.
“Undoubtedly, the Dangote Refinery is helping to cushion this now and should be sustained. Again, they should service their planes early enough for the season and avoid them falling due at a very important period like the Yuletide season.”
On his part, Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konzult, Mr Chris Aligbe, said the surge in traffic usually distorts airlines’ schedule during Yuletide season.
He said: “Therefore, they battle to respond to the traffic. It is the high volume of passengers with which they cannot immediately cope that is usually responsible for the delays and cancellations. During that period, it is not easy to lease aircraft to cope with the situation.
“This happens with road transport as well, and that is why you see those involved in the business jacking up their fares because they do not have enough buses to handle the surge in passenger volume during that period. So instead of operating just one trip daily, you see those companies operating two, especially at night.
Interlining arrangements
“But in the airline industry that cannot be done, particularly because we have airports in Nigeria that are only daylight and cannot be operated for 24 hours. Business will boom, but a lot of passengers will suffer disruptions and airlines would face challenges about passenger rights abuses. It would have been good if our industry is one where our airlines have interlining arrangements.
“With that, this problem will be reduced. Even if airlines want to lease aircraft to put additional flights, there is no glut in the leasing market. Those who have aircraft should ensure that it can operate at an optimum level. Alliances and efficient scheduling is necessary to get through peak periods.”
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