At least, 845 flights were either delayed or cancelled in quarter three of 2025 among 13 domestic airlines in Nigeria. Also, no fewer than 17,731 flights were operated between July to September 2025 across the nation’s 26 airports.
These were contained in a ‘Summary of Airline Flight Performance’ obtained from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) by The Guardian.
The report also compared and juxtaposed the performance of the 13 airlines in the same period of 2024 with most recording some levels of improvements in service delivery in 2025.
The further breakdown of the report, indicated that 765 flights were delayed within the period, while another 80 flights were cancelled, totalling 845 in all.
The report showed that the 765 flight delays represented 22.95 per cent of the total flights operated within the period, while the 80 cancelled flights were 0.12 per cent of the total flights.
According to the report, Air Peace had the highest number of flight delays in Q3 with 6.87; Max Air, 3.75 per cent; United Nigeria, 3.42 per cent; Rano Air, 1.74 per cent; XE Jet, 1.62 per cent and Ibom Air with 1.23 per cent flight delays within the period under review.
Others were Aero Contractors; 1.20 per cent; Arik Air, 0.96 per cent; ValueJet, 0.93 per cent; Overland, 0.45 per cent; NG Eagle, 0.39 per cent; Umza Air, 0.24 per cent and Green Africa with 0.15 per cent of its total flights operated within the period.
On cancelled flights, United Nigeria topped the list with 0.63 per cent of its total flights; Max Air, 0.42 per cent of its total flights, while the two airlines under the receivership of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Aero Contractors and Arik Air were joint in a third place with 0.30 per cent of cancelled flights within the period under review.
Others were Green Africa, 0.27 per cent; Ibom Air, 0.12 per cent; Air Peace, 0.09 per cent, while NG Eagle, Overland, Rano and Value Jet all had 0.03 per cent flight cancellations, while Umza Air, which commenced flight operations in November, had zero per cent cancellation.
The third quarter data did not cover Umza Air because the airline commenced operations in the last quarter of 2025.
For Q3 of 2024 operations, the data showed that 15,898 flights were operated within the period with 251 cancelled flights, indicating 7.53 per cent of the total flight operations.
Between July and September 2024, a total of 843 flights were delayed, showing 25.29 per cent of total flights operated within the period.
The Q3 2024 report indicated that Arik Air and Air Peace led the pack of airlines with cancelled flights at 1.70 per cent of total flights operated within the period, while Ibom Air and United Nigeria had 0.80 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively.
Others were Max Air, 0.60 per cent; Aero Contractors, Overland and Value Jet all had 0.30 per cent each, while NG Eagle and Rano Air both had 0.10 per cent each cancellation within the period.
But, Umza and XE Jet were not captured in the report.
For the Q3 2024 delayed flights, Air Peace led with 8.07 per cent of its total flight, followed by Max Air with 4.11 per cent; United Nigeria, 3.48 per cent and Arik Air on 3.00 per cent.
Others were Ibom Air, 1.68 per cent; ValueJet, 1.62 per cent; Aero Contractors and Overland Airways in 1.11 per cent each; Rano Air, 0.54 per cent; Green Africa, 0.33 per cent and NG Eagle had the least delayed flights within the period with 0.24 per cent.
