Beyond the ‘disputed’ traffic figure

Data and statistics are crucial for gauging airline performance as they provide insights into key areas like operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and financial health, enabling airlines to make informed decisions and improve their services.

Recent data/statistics said to emanate from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has generated controversy from airlines that based their misgivings solely on the omission of certain number of flights done without reflecting accurately on their in-house figure. Simply put, a few of them said the figures from the data do not correspondent with their own in-house figures.

We have had to tread this path again as many of the data released by the aviation regulatory body in the past has been met with rejection by some airlines.

The NCAA has offices in virtually all the airports across the country. It is equally believed that the NCAA works in collaboration with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to arrive at what looks like a perfect statistics to them.

Agreed that in imputing the figures, one or two errors may have been made but that does not vitiate the good job done by the aviation regulatory body.

While some domestic operators are upset with the data that expose the inefficiency of many of the country’s airlines, the international airlines do not have a problem with it; an indication that something is wrong somewhere.

Aside the horrible tales of missing baggage, flight delays are becoming very normal in the country’s aviation industry. Agreed that some of the causes of flight delays are beyond the airlines, incessant flight delays/cancellations are beginning to take joy out of air travel.

Last year, NCAA was inundated with complaints by air travellers who have had to express frustration with the entire airline industry especially as it concern flight delays.

Green Africa said its August 2024 performance shows 456 scheduled flights, with 453 operated, 53 delayed, and four canceled. But NCAA’s data for the same month reported 416 operated flights, 101 delays, and four cancellations for the airline.

Ibom Air in what it termed the ‘Authentic Figures’ said the carrier operated 9,155 flights, , 1977 delay recorded, 1, 365, 427 flight cancelled.

Statistics show that one out four flights is at the risk of a delay of outright cancellations. The country’s airline business appears to be in a total mess for which the recently released data hopes to address.

One airline that has continued to surprise many is Arik Air which has been in the eyes of the storm since the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) took over the carrier in 2016.

Arik Air, in 2024 airlifted 2,239,176 passengers between January 1 2024 to December 31, 2024, a report sourced from the NCAA.

The airline, which has been under the receivership of AMCON since 2017, despite its challenges, also operated 10,699 flights within the year under review, making it the second most active airline in terms of passenger traffic and flight operations in Nigeria, after Air Peace.

Arik’s achievements have continued to amaze everyone. This is an airline that was written off as a result of the imbroglio and bad press it had because of AMCON’s take-over of the company that was already challenged financially even before take-over.

The current management of the airline under AMCON has worked to stabilize the airline that its existence was alleged to be under threat before 2016 and has ensured continued operations despite financial distress at takeover in February 2017, preventing a total collapse of the airline.

Aside that, the management according to an a reliable insider has initiated and maintained negotiations with creditors, including international lessors and financial institutions like Export Development Canada (EDC), Standard Chartered Bank, Pembroke, Afreximbank, to manage liabilities, recovered several abandoned aircraft from overseas locations.

The source told Aviation Metric that grounded unserviceable aircraft, scrapped beyond-economical-repair frames, and focused resources on maintaining a lean, manageable fleet had been achieved.

Other landmark achievement of the carrier involves technical discussions with MROs like Lufthansa Technik and TARMAC Aerosave to manage storage, repairs, and disposal of abandoned aircraft and components, reduced overhead and implemented cost-saving measures to sustain limited operations.

The carrier has maintained valid Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and complied with NCAA regulations despite limited operational capacity, including remarkable schedule reliability in spite of numerous historical creditor induced disruptions.

Aviation media consultant, Mr. Chris Azu Aligbe said the airlines’ protest over the data by NCAA was unexpected and was bound to raise issues because the NCAA data may not be totally foolproof.

He however lauded what the NCAA did as a step in the right direction, stressing that  what the NCAA did is exactly what the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does accompanied with with heavy sanctions against airlines for infringing on passenger rights.

His words, “I applaud what NCAA is doing. I am not saying that their data is foolproof but beyond complaints, airlines should go back to the drawing board. There was a year Delta Airlines was sanctioned by FAA as the highest culprit in baggage handling. When they published it, Delta reacted immediately by appraising their system and in one year, Delta turned the entire thing around in one year and it became number one in baggage handling. Delta baggage handling became number one in the world”.

“This is what the airlines should do. The things that happen in the airline sector do not allow you to know when they are telling the truth. That is the problem. The airlines are not giving you the comfort to say yes, the airlines are telling the truth. Them themselves should be publishing their performance.”.

He urged the NCAA not to wait for one year to publish airlines’ performance, encouraging the agency to do it stressing every month.

“They should publish the data every month and they should include the flight time, the scheduled departure and number of minutes or hours they delay. They should have it on a monthly basis. That is what the NCAA should be publishing”.

“If an airline is disputing it, they should bring out the details. If 50% of airlines’ flights are delayed, it is horrendous. Although, it is not all airlines that do this. Some airlines may be doing better than the others but the average is 50% delay or cancellations and that is why our airlines will not attract foreign partners to interline with them because of carrier liability. They should up the ante”.

Wole Shadare