FEATURES Archives - Aviation metric

How mountain of debt is ‘grounding’ Nigeria’s aviation

Posted on October 6, 2026October 6, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Nigeria’s civil aviation ecosystem is locked in a structural debt conundrum. This financial strain stems from a fundamental structural mismatch: revenue is earned locally in Naira, while over 70% of operational costs are denominated in US dollars, writes WOLE SHADARE The structural debt crisis in Nigeria’s civil aviation industry stems from systemic macroeconomic pressures, liquidity bottlenecks, exchange rate volatility, and operational cash flow strains across airline balance sheets. Using Air Peace and XEJet as case…

How market dynamics made flying accessible again

Posted on September 29, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The aviation industry is proving once again that market forces are the ultimate equaliser. While high operational costs, macroeconomic pressures, and currency shifts remain real challenges, the injection of vigorous competition has broken the cycle of unchecked fare hikes, writes WOLE SHADARE For years, traversing the Nigerian airspace felt like an expensive luxury reserved strictly for corporate executives, government officials, and the affluent. A single one-way domestic ticket on high-density routes like Lagos–Abuja or Port…

Ghost Schedules, Broken Dreams: The hidden toll of Nigeria’s flight delay crisis

Posted on September 24, 2026 by Wole Shadare

While severe delays frequently trigger passenger anger and airport altercations, the crisis is rarely the fault of a single entity. It stems from a combination of systemic, technical, operational, and regulatory factors across the aviation ecosystem, writes WOLE SHADARE It was supposed to be a routine 50-minute hop. Stanley Wisdom, a Lagos-based software consultant, arrived at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2) at 6:00 AM on a humid Thursday morning, ticket in hand for a…

Sustainable Growth: Dissecting aviation stakeholders’ position on sector’s issues

Posted on September 15, 2026September 15, 2026 by Wole Shadare

In Nigeria’s aviation industry, a dangerous paradox is playing out: carriers collect ticket fares in Naira, but incur over 70 per cent of their operational costs in US Dollars. Against this brutal macroeconomic backdrop, LAAC’s 30th annual conference became ground zero for an overdue reckoning between state fiscal policy and commercial reality, writes WOLE SHADARE The League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) hosted its landmark 30th Annual Conference at The Providence Hotel in Ikeja,…

Beyond the App: True story behind Uber’s Nigerian exit amid security concerns

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Wole Shadare

For over a decade, digital mobility platforms like Uber and Bolt offered seamless transit across Nigeria’s primary aviation hubs. However, beneath this app-driven convenience brewed a high-stakes collision between Silicon Valley disruption and state aviation governance, writes WOLE SHADARE For years, digital mobility platforms like Uber and Bolt delivered convenience across Nigeria’s primary aviation hubs. Yet, beneath the seamless user experience lay a volatile operational friction at the curb, a high-stakes collision between app-based disruption and…

FAAN, e-hailing operators: Imperative of balancing passenger convenience with airport security

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Across Nigeria’s major aviation gateways, the explosion of app-based rideshare services like Uber and Bolt has revolutionised ground transport, delivering unprecedented convenience to arriving passengers. However, this digital mobility boom has introduced complex operational challenges at terminals. FAAN is implementing stricter oversight measures, aiming not to restrict modern e-hailing platforms, but to seamlessly integrate them into a secure, transparent, and world-class airport ecosystem, writes WOLE SHADARE Across global civil aviation, the airport landside experience, spanning…

Aviation Bank: Imperative for airlines’ survival, economic expansion

Posted on September 1, 2026September 1, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Civil aviation is often described as the oxygen of modern commerce, a high-velocity engine that links markets, drives international trade, and enables rapid movement across regional corridors. Yet, in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economic market, civil aviation operates within a severe, ongoing structural paradox, writes WOLE SHADARE On the one hand, passenger demand remains resilient, domestic routes rank among the busiest on the continent, and the country’s geographic positioning offers an ideal hub…

African airlines trapped in uncomfortable expansion cycle

Posted on August 25, 2026August 30, 2026 by Wole Shadare

African carriers cannot achieve viable economies of scale without massive fleet modernisation and cross-border expansion, yet they cannot afford aircraft or open skies without the very scale they lack, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the tarmac of African aviation has been littered with the ghosts of ambitious carriers that soared high, burned through capital furiously, and vanished into thin air. From the historic demise of multinational icons like Air Afrique to the perennial reorganisations of national…

Dangerous Game: Overwritten cockpit recorders, threat to air safety

Posted on August 18, 2026August 18, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The ‘overwriting’ of flight data recorder (FDR) is an insidious operational vulnerability that has continued to compromise global aviation safety, writes WOLE SHADARE In the delicate architecture of modern commercial aviation, trust is anchored to a small, brightly painted orange cylinder buried in the tail section of an aircraft: the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). For decades, this crash-survivable device, colloquially called the black box, has served as the ultimate arbiter of truth. It captures ambient sounds,…

Leaking bucket: Automation failure, unremitted billions shadow NCAA, NAMA war

Posted on August 12, 2026August 12, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The current battle before lawmakers over amending the 5% Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) sharing formula pits two agencies squabbling over a shrinking slice of an uncollected pie, writes WOLE SHADARE Nigeria’s aviation sector is locked in a high-stakes fiscal staring contest. A quiet yet fierce proxy war erupted between two key sister agencies, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the nation’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), the Nigerian Airspace…

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