The National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation may soon beam its searchlight on carriers allegedly violating the rights of air travellers by incessant delays and cancellation of flights. But the Committee’s inquest may be met with stiff opposition by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), the umbrella body of indigenous carriers. AON members have never stopped challenging aeronautical authorities to address some of the reasons for the alleged infractions. KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports
The air transport industry is in near turmoil, forced by accusations and counter accusations over infringements on the rights of air travellers.The crux of the matter, The Nation learnt, is the increasing outcry over the alleged violation of air travellers’ rights by carriers who delay and cancel flights.
Already, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation have waded into the matter, with plans to expose culpable carriers.
However, the Committee’s move, it was learnt, might not go without a fight, literarily, by Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), the umbrella body of indigenous carriers. This is because members of the AON had since been challenging the aeronautical authorities to address some of the factors that may have been contributing to the alleged infractions, namely: incessant delays and cancellation of flights by domestic carriers.
Apart from members of the AON (i.e. indigenous carriers), others that may be drawn into the ‘fight’ when the committee’s inquest gains momentum include the aviation industry regulator, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), accused of failing in its duties go rein in the domestic carriers; the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
They may be forced by the Committee to explain their complexity, if any, in the alleged infractions, which have seen airlines recording 41, 398 cases of delayed flights, from January to December, last year, for instance, according to data from the NCAA.The grouse of the committee and indeed, air travellers and other stakeholders is that this trend, if unchecked, will negatively impact air transportation.
What promises to be a showdown among the committee, domestic operators and some agencies in the industry, came to the fore when, a about fortnight ago, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, threatened to blacklist indigenous carriers that have made it a habit to keep passengers at the airports for hours without offering clarifications on the status of their flight.
Senator Adeyemi said the National Assembly has been inundated with complaints from Nigerians on the shabby treatment they have been receiving from carriers.The erring airlines, he said, have been keeping passengers at the departure halls for hours without explanations on why their aircraft would not be airborne.
Describing the development as “poor customer service,” Adeyemi said many Nigerians have lost business opportunities and applicants interviews because of the aberrant schedules by airlines. He said the situation had become worrisome to warrant the intervention of the National Assembly, because NCAA has failed to discharge its oversight duties.
Adeyemi said: “I am calling on airline operators as people can no longer predict their flights. Nigerians want to fly and the roads are bad, but there are people that stay as long as five to eight hours waiting for a flight with no compensation, not even a bottle of coke.
“We will have a meeting with airlines. We will try to look at the cause of this. We will tell them our feelings and there must be compensation for passengers that are stranded.”
He said instead of experiencing four to five hours’delay at airports, Nigerians may consider travelling by road. His words: “Nigerians are not happy with the way airlines operate in this country. Nigerians are at the mercy of the airline operators.
“You cannot predict your movement. People stay at the airports for five to six hours. If Nigerian airline operators cannot manage their fleet, it will not be out of place for us to ask foreign companies that are interested to run domestic operations.
“Today, you cannot predict your movement travelling with Nigerian airlines. At times, if not for the security challenges you would take your car and move. Somebody is staying at airports for five to six hours and nobody is talking to you.”
According to Adeyemi, the NCAA must rise to the occasion.
“I wouldn’t know the committee that the NCAA has set up but, as a parliament, we are going to handle this challenge differently.
“We are going to set up our own monitoring system and we are going to announce to Nigerians the airlines that are not worthy to fly because they are not reliable. If there is only one airline that is doing well, we will announce it to Nigerians,” he said.
The Senate Committee Chairman on Aviation stated that the essence of flying is to meet appointments and help to accelerate socio-economic development activities.
He, therefore, said if domestic airlines can no longer perform their roles and meet their obligations to passengers, “we will ask them to pack up. If there are no airlines operating in Nigeria, we will call for foreign airlines to come and operate in Nigeria”.
As Adeyemi pointed out, “It has reached that point. We must take up the challenge; we will do our best; we will set up our own team, monitor them week by week and give the statistics of airlines that have failed to meet their schedule.”
His counterpart at the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, also berated the NCAA for its failure to address the matter. He said: “The issue of flight delays and cancellations, we cannot take it anymore.
“Most times, when you ask the airlines, they cite operational reasons. I discussed it with the Director-General of the NCAA. I wrote to the authority on this issue and up till now, nothing fruitful has come out of the complaint. We are going to discuss this issue. It’s affecting the entire country.”
NCAA’s position
However, the NCAA has explained its position in the matter. Its Director-General, Captain Musa Nuhu, said the regulator had set a committee to look into the matter, assuring that any airline found culpable would be severely sanctioned.
AON reacts, gives reasons for infractions
But, local operators have accused the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation of interloping into the functions of the NCAA.
In a statement, the AON urged high-profile and respected public office holders to seek information before dabbling into matters where they do not have competence.
The statement was signed by Alhaji Yunusa Sarina Abdulmunaf of AZMAN Air; Allen Onyema, Air Peace; Alhaji Shehu Wada, Max Air; Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, United Nigeria Airlines; Capt. Mfon Udom, Ibom Air; Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, Arik Air; and Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood, Aero Contractors.
Others were Capt. Edward Boyo, Overland Airways; Mr. Afolabi Babawande, Green Africa Airways and Mr. Sukh Mann, Dana Air. The operators said the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation requires insight in articulating solutions to the challenges plaguing the domestic air transport system.
The embattled airlines argued that whether in Nigeria or other countries, delaying or cancelling any flight has severe financial and image consequences for the operator. They affirmed that flight delays and cancellations occur all over the world.
They, however, pointed out that 80 per cent of the factors responsible for the ugly development in Nigeria are neither in the control of airlines nor caused by them.
The statement read: “Due to the lack of basic navigational and visual aids at most airports across the country, airlines are forced to delay flights unnecessarily, waiting for visibility to improve either at departure or destination airports.
“This is the major cause of delays in October to March every year, with the harmattan dust haze and fog. This impacts the entire system significantly. Almost every morning, the first flights to several destinations are delayed, affecting the schedule of the airline for the rest of the day.
The issue of lack of navigational and visual aids at most of the airports is said to account for more than 50 per cent of the delays in the system, for which airlines unfairly always take the fall.
Also, inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested aprons – both domestic terminals in Lagos popularly known as GAT and MMA2, which are the main hubs and turnaround points for the majority of the local industry – are severely capacity-constrained to the point of constituting a safety hazard to the industry.
Unfortunately, lack of planning by the concerned authorities over the years also led to deficit in air side infrastructure at the terminals, causing aircraft to park in a chaotic manner, where many aircraft get hemmed in by other aircraft.
The AON also cited restrictions caused by sunset airports as part of the reasons why flights are either cancelled or delayed.
“Again, because of a deficit in navigational and visual aids, most of the airports in Nigeria are open between 6am and 6pm. Once an airline misses this window as a result of one or more of the afore-mentioned delays, airlines are forced to cancel scheduled flights to such destinations.
“The practice of closing the airspace for security reasons to allow the President, Vice President or other VIPs to either depart or arrive, is a significant causal factor of unpredictable and unforeseeable delays in the system. This is no fault of airlines, yet another delay cause for which the domestic airlines take the fall for the entire system on a daily basis,” AON said.
It also pointed out that bird strikes and foreign objects damage many aircraft during landing, taxiing or take-off at airports across the country, thereby forcing the aircraft to be parked abruptly until a replacement can be marshaled to operate a flight.
The AON, noting that a lot can be done about this by the authorities, however, lamented that the airlines, again, bear the brunt of the failure to address this key issue.
“JetA1 costs above N410 per litre in Lagos, N422 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and N429 in Kano, and has continued to rise fast and steadily. Fuel supply is at best epileptic at several airports thereby causing delays,” the AON said.
It added: “Airlines carry out most of their activities in dollars which sells for between N580 and N600 per dollar and is in short supply. Nigeria’s domestic airlines are in a ‘life and death’ struggle to secure the foreign exchange (forex) they need to acquire spare parts to maintain their aircraft.
“This is a major influence on how quickly a grounded aircraft can be fixed and restored to its flight schedule, which in turn has a huge impact on the schedule reliability of the domestic airlines. Many airlines cannot clear their aircraft spare parts for weeks or months due to Customs bottlenecks.”
Operators lamented that sometimes, they are forced to wait on the ground in a queue for long periods before being given clearance for take-off., and this goes a long way to affect its arrival and next departure time.
“Sometimes, airlines are forced to taxi for long periods due to unavailability of runway lights on a particular runway. This further extends the operational time between flights,” they said.
The Chairman, West-Link Airline, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, said: “Talking will not change anything, but appropriate action will. There are many factors that could lead to the infractions, including an operating aircraft developing a fault that cannot be fixed before boarding.‘’
“Adverse weather such as harmattan, fog or rains are some of the factors that affect Nigerian airports. Service providers’ delays, including catering, handling companies delay in baggage processing, delay by fullers and airport security screening of baggage and passengers are also issues.”
However, in the midst of their woes, the AON has condemned violent attacks on airline staff and facilities at the various airports by passengers over flight delays or cancellation.
The operators expressed concern that such violent attacks have gone on unrestrained across major airports in the country. They, therefore, called for “strongly, and without equivocation, immediate cessation.”
Whether the anilines’ litany of woes will force the hand of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation to halt their inquest into the barrage of delays and cancellation of flights across the country, or dilute the growing anger and disappointment of air travellers in remains to be seen.
