Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, has said that fuel scarcity has affected the on-time performance of domestic airlines in Nigeria. He said the on-time performance dropped by an average of 17 per cent in the month of April.
The Minister also lamented that Pilots still submit their flight plans manually in Nigeria instead of electronically like it is done in other countries.
The Minster made this statement in Lagos when Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, inaugurated passenger self-service facilities at the terminal.
He said “The on-time performance of domestic airlines dropped to an average of 17 per cent in the month of April. April has been a worst month since January when we started the on-time performance monitoring, using the aviation portal.
“FirstNation Airways still maintained the first position but dropped from 37.9 per cent in March to 27 per cent in April. FirstNation had an all-time high of 66 per cent in February.
“We are monitoring this performance in order to improve the on-time performance of domestic airlines. During our findings, we found out that the poor performance in April was caused by fuel scarcity; so, fuel scarcity impacted on on-time service delivery by the airlines.”
While commending the newly introduced Common User Passenger Processing System by the operators of the MMA2, he said “The MMA2 has offered a template about how government should go about handling of Nigerian airports. There is an urgent need to listen to pilots who fly in our airspace. We should make sure that our navigational aids are up to speed. Airports are not terminal buildings, but do include terminal buildings.
“We have decided to change the system and MMA2 has beaten us to it. We need to improve passengers’ experience. I want other terminal operators to emulate the continuous improvements we are seeing in MMA2. What MMA2 has done today is good for the system.”
He also added that before the end of the months, contracts would be awarded to upgrade the nation’s airports.
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