MM2: Airline Operators Blame Airport Congestion, Flight Delays On Poor infrastructure
Domestic airline operators have attributed the majority of flight delays and cancellations to airport congestion, inadequate infrastructure, and bad weather
The observation was made at the Aviation Day of the 23rd Akwaaba African Travel Market held in Lagos on Tuesday.
The theme of the event was “Delayed and Cancelled Flights: The Rules and the Rights of Passengers, The Airline Perspective”
Mr Adedayo Olawuyi, Chief Commercial Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, who was a panelist, said many factors which contributed to delays were beyond the control of the airlines.
He said poor infrastructure was causing cancellations and delays of flights likening it to an apartment of five-bedroom with only one car park.
“In this case, before you go out in the morning, you need to call others to come and move your car.
“If you get to the ramp early in the morning, there are times when the aircraft is blocked from moving simply because there are many operators operating today.
“A flight that pushes back at 6:59 a.m. eventually takes off at 7:38 a.m. The flight was supposed to arrive in Abuja by 8 a.m., but there’s already a 40-minute delay that the airline knows nothing about.
“Secondly, we operate machines, considering that you woke up, and your car did not start, this could be for technical challenges which must be fixed to ensure that everything is in order.
“In Nigeria today, the bulk of the airports we operate in are dawn-to-dusk operations, meaning they do not even have lighting and cannot operate at night.
“So, when you have delays from every other reason that extend into the night, sometimes we are forced to cancel,” he said.
On the claim by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that more than 60 percent delays in domestic flights were recorded in August 2026, Adedayo said airline operators were not to blame.
He said most of the challenges that led to such delays were largely attributable to the NCAA , which was in charge of the infrastructure.
According to him, the question about the reason for the delays should not be directed to the airlines, it should be directed to all stakeholders.
The Chief Commercial Officer of ValueJet, Trevor Henry, who was also a panelist at the event, agreed that delays and cancellations were usually caused by a number of factors .
Henry listed such factors as presidential movements, weather, airport congestion at check-in, congestion at the boarding lounge due to security checks, and congestion at the boarding gate.
“When the aircraft taxis to the runway, especially in the morning, there can also be congestion from the taxiway to the runway before takeoff,” he said.
The Chief Operating Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (2), Remi Jibodu, also a panelist, proposed having a slot system to tackle airport congestion.
Jibodu said many things contributed to delays and cancellations thousands of passengers who came to the airport for 7am flights faced.
“We need a coordinated system with the airlines and work out how we can stagger the schedule a little bit.
“At this point, we have to look at the slot system to see how we can coordinate it.
“It may not be a full slot system, but we must be able to give a little bit of concession to that,” he said.
