By Desire Uzochukeu
Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines, UNA, have challenged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s, NCAA, August flight disruption figures, saying the data did not accurately reflect their operational performance or distinguish between delays caused by airlines and those arising from external factors.
The NCAA’s Summary of Domestic Airline Flight Disruptions Operations in August showed that domestic airlines recorded 4,801 disruptions out of 7,961 flights operated during the month.
According to the report, Air Peace recorded 1,337 delays or cancellations out of 1,864 flights, while UNA recorded 951 disruptions out of 1,231 flights.
Enugu Air recorded 586 disruptions out of 878 flights, ValueJet 438 out of 767, Ibom Air 257 out of 560, while Arik operated 301 flights, of which 188 were delayed and one cancelled.
However, the airlines disputed the figures and the manner in which the disruptions were attributed to them.
Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace Limited, Oluwatoyin Olajide, said the NCAA figures did not reflect the airline’s actual August operations or adequately explain the causes of the disruptions.
Olajide said an internal review of Air Peace’s August 2026 flight data showed that the airline operated 2,564 flights during the month, rather than the 1,864 contained in the NCAA report.
She argued that the omission of more than 700 flights affected the calculation of the airline’s reported performance.
“First, the NCAA report vastly underreported our total flight volume. Air Peace operated a total of 2,564 flights in August 2026, as opposed to the 1,864 flights stated in the NCAA report,” she said.
Olajide also faulted the report for failing to distinguish between internal operational issues and external factors affecting airline operations.
According to her, only 391 flights, representing about 15 per cent of the airline’s disruptions during the month, were attributable to internal factors.
She listed the external factors affecting operations as airport congestion and traffic, bird strikes, airport facilities, adverse weather, union picketing and ground-handling damage.
“An internal review of our August 2026 flight data performance analysis reveals that 391 flights, which is only 15 per cent of the delays experienced during the month of August, were caused by internal factors. The rest of the delays experienced by Air Peace were caused by external factors, and we have the data to support this,” she said.
Olajide said the internal delays were largely linked to technical issues that required unscheduled aircraft maintenance and fuel-related challenges.
She also questioned the timing and methodology of the NCAA report, particularly its failure to provide similar monthly data for July.
“It is indeed worrisome that there is still no equivalent monthly data located for July, yet the NCAA published unusually granular August airline delay data only 13 days after month-end,” she said.
Olajide further argued that the report should have disclosed the impact of the industrial disruption that affected airline operations in August.
She said the union-related disruption that began on August 11 affected Air Peace operations for more than two weeks, resulting in rescheduling, delays and cancellations.
She questioned why the report did not identify the causes of the disruptions attributed to individual airlines.
“Why was this report published rapidly without identifying the causes of the delays attributed to individual airlines instead of publishing wrong figures that could tarnish the reputation of the airline despite prevailing operational challenges?” she asked.
Similarly, Chief Commercial Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, Adedayo Olawuyi, said the NCAA data should distinguish between controllable and uncontrollable delays before attributing disruptions to airlines.
Olawuyi spoke during the Aviation Day of the 23rd Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, themed “Delayed and Cancelled Flights: The Rules and the Rights of Passengers — The Airline Perspective.”
He said airlines operated within a wider aviation ecosystem involving airports, regulators, weather conditions, infrastructure and other service providers.
“I will use an analogy. You go to school and 60 per cent of the students fail, is that the fault of the school? Yes or no? My point is very simple. The first problem we have with that data, personally speaking, is that the data was not presented in a way where we have removed controllable delays and uncontrollable delays,” Olawuyi said.
He argued that responsibility for flight disruptions should not be placed solely on airlines without considering the roles of other stakeholders.
“The question about the reason for the delays should not be directed to the airlines. The question should be directed to all stakeholders. Airports, regulators, everybody in the ecosystem shouldn’t ignore that 60 per cent,” he said.
Olawuyi cited airport congestion as one of the factors affecting flight schedules, saying aircraft could sometimes be unable to move promptly from ramps because of congestion involving multiple operators.
He said technical problems could also lead to delays because aircraft must undergo the necessary checks and repairs before being released for service.
“We operate machines. Have you ever woken up, and your car did not start? Sometimes we have technical challenges. When these technical challenges occur, we must maintain the safety of that flight and ensure that everything is properly done and that the aircraft is fixed before it is released into service,” he said.
He also identified weather and inadequate night-operation facilities at some airports as factors that could turn delays into cancellations.
According to him, many airports operate on a dusk-to-dawn basis, meaning that when earlier delays extend into the night, airlines may have no option but to cancel affected flights.
The airlines’ positions put the focus on how flight disruption data is collected, classified and attributed, as well as the need to distinguish airline-controlled delays from wider operational challenges across the aviation system.
