Air Peace has disagreed with the flight delay figures contained in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) report for August, saying it did not reflect the airline’s total flight operations.

The airline also noted that the report did not put the factors responsible for the delays recorded during the month under review into perspective, according to a statement by its COO, Oluwatoyin Olajide, on Thursday.

The NCAA report indicated that Air Peace delayed 1,330 of the 1,864 flights it operated in the month and cancelled seven.

Air Peace, however, noted it operated 2,564 flights in August, compared with the 1,864 flights in the NCAA report, and said the difference of more than 700 flights affected its reported delay rate.

The airline also questioned the absence of equivalent monthly data for July, noting that the NCAA’s August report was released shortly after the end of the month.

Air Peace said the August figures should also be considered against the operational disruptions arising from the industrial action by aviation unions on August 11.

It said the disruption affected its operations for more than 14 days, resulting in flight rescheduling, delays and cancellations, disclosing that the NCAA report did not sufficiently distinguish between delays arising from internal operational factors and those caused by external circumstances.

According to the airline, its internal review showed that 391 flights, representing about 15 per cent of the delays recorded during the month, were attributable to internal factors, identifying technical issues requiring unscheduled aircraft maintenance and fuel-related matters as the major internal causes.

The airline said external factors included airport congestion and infrastructure challenges, bird strikes, adverse weather conditions, industrial action and damage to an aircraft by a ground handling company.

It said airport congestion and traffic accounted for more than 51 per cent of its external delays, with aircraft sometimes held on the ground or in holding patterns because of airport capacity constraints, citing bird strikes as another factor affecting its operations.

One of its aircraft, 5N-BYG, was damaged by a bird strike in Abuja and was removed from service for more than a week for repairs, the statement said, adding that repairing the aircraft’s inlet cowl cost about $1.8 million.

Air Peace said the aircraft normally operates at least eight sectors daily and carries about 1,000 passengers, so its removal from service affected subsequent flight rotations, with some delays attributed to airport facility limitations, breakdowns, and adverse weather conditions that led to safety-related holds and flight diversions.

It said a single diversion could cause several hours of consequential delays as aircraft and crew schedules were adjusted, explaining that it continued to support affected passengers, including hotel accommodation where necessary, even when circumstances outside its control caused disruptions.

The figures from its internal review indicated that delays directly attributable to the airline accounted for about 15 per cent of its total delays in August, Air Peace noted.

(NAN)