Every year, disruptive passengers cost Nigerian airlines N15 billion. — Onyema

An estimated N15 billion is lost by Nigerian airlines each year as a result of unwarranted passenger behaviour that causes delays in flights.

According to Daily Independent, Air Peace Chairman Dr. Allen Onyema made this statement to aviation correspondents in Lagos yesterday.

Onyema bemoaned the fact that unruly passenger conduct is the primary reason for flight delays in the nation and has caused the airlines to suffer enormous financial losses.

According to Onyema, who cited the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), airlines have little influence over flight delays. However, she claimed that in Nigeria, passenger behaviour was a major factor in flight delays and cancellations, along with weather, VIP movement, and technology (Aircraft on Ground, or AOG).

He maintained that the typical Nigerian tourist had not adopted the practice of rescheduling flights when they are

canceled, a policy that follows international standards and recommended practices.

He said the insistence of passengers whose flights are canceled to be airlifted first the following day gives rise to disruption of flights, which snowballs into weeks of delays and cancellations.

Onyema explained that airlines schedule the number of flights that must be operated by each aircraft, but when a previous flight is canceled, passengers’ insistence that they must be airlifted first before the airline operates its normal schedule, disrupts flight operations.

He emphasised that industry standard stipulates that when a flight is canceled, passengers of such flights are to wait for the rescheduling of their flights in accordance to the existing airline schedule, but noted that the reverse was the case in Nigeria.

He declared that the insistence of passengers of delayed or canceled flights to be airlifted immediately would lead to disruptive flights for operators. He said: “Let me tell you why delays and cancellations will persist in this country.

Number one, apart from safety, apart from security, apart from weather and other issues, is unruly passenger behaviour, a misunderstanding of how airlines’ scheduled operations are supposed to be run, is major cause of flight delays.

“When weather is the cause of the delay or leads to cancellation at the end of the day, it is not the business of the airline to fly the passenger whose flight was canceled first thing the next morning, no. All over the world, aviation is the same worldwide.

The convention is, the passenger is expected to reschedule to the next available date. That is how it is done. “In Nigeria, you want to fly, and you have three hours delay because of weather. And the time weather clears, you want to go in, and there is airport closure, because most of the airports don’t run at night.

And the passenger will tell you, even though you put us in a hotel, we will be the first ones to fly in the morning. It is not done like that, you reschedule to the next available date, because it is called scheduled flight operations.”

Onyema emphasised that an aircraft in Nigeria has about six to eight flights a day, stressing that any delay would disrupt the schedules. For instance, he recalled that a few days ago when the airline flew into Warri, it encountered bad weather, which prevented its aircraft to land, while the pilot had to hover for about 15 minutes.

He said when the weather situation did not improve, the pilot diverted the flight to Enugu because Benin airport was also covered by bad weather.

He lamented that after about two hours in Enugu, the weather situation improved, but the aircraft could not land in Warri airport again as it was shut due to its sunset airport nature. He added: “The pilot announced the closure of the airport because it is a sunset airport and said that the flight would return to base, which is Abuja.

With that announcement, there was pandemonium everywhere, as the passengers started protesting against that decision.

“They brought the aircraft down and the captain was almost crying. They kept that aircraft on ground in Enugu for four hours. They said we should put them in a hotel in Enugu. Why should I put you in a hotel in Enugu? Did I create the weather? Did I create the airport? That was a force majeure.”