Experts in the Nigerian aviation industry have said indigenous airlines alone could not be blamed for recent spike in flight delays and cancellations.

Data on the domestic flight operations and disruptions in August, posted on its social media handle on Sunday by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), indicated that airlines delayed about 60 per cent of scheduled flights.

The data showed that 15 commercial airlines operated a combined 7,961 flights during the period, of which 4,765 were delayed.

The figure indicated that nearly six out of every 10 flights operated by the airlines in August were delayed, while only 3,196 flights, representing about 40 per cent, operated without delay.

Further breakdown of the data indicated that 36 flights were cancelled during the month, showing that delays remained the dominant form of disruption experienced by air travellers within the domestic market.

Among the airlines with a high number of delayed flights was Air Peace with 1,330 delays out of 1,864 flights.

United Nigeria Airlines followed with 943 delayed flights out of 1,231 flights, while Enugu Air recorded 582 delays from 878 flights.

Besides, ValueJet operated 767 flights and delayed 435, while Ibom Air operated 560 flights and recorded 254 delays.

Aero Contractors operated 469 flights, of which 246 were delayed, while Rano Air recorded 216 delays from 503 flights.

Other operators included Arik Air, which operated 301 flights and had 188 delayed flights; Max Air, with 336 flights and 204 delays; Overland Airways had 239 flights and 139 delays and Green Africa Airways, which operated 226 flights within the period and had 114 delays.

Also, Umza Air recorded one of the lowest delay ratios among the operators, with 52 delayed flights out of 403 operated.

XeJet operated 127 flights and delayed 40, while Benani Air operated 52 flights and recorded 22 delays.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, a former engineer with the defunct national carrier, Chris Amokwu, said it was wrong to impose the entire blame of flight delays and cancellations on airlines alone.

According to Amokwu, government organisations, fuel suppliers, tele­communications, Very Import­ant Persons (VIP) movements, ground handling companies, and passengers are some of the contributory factors to flight delays and cancellations in the industry.

He also mentioned weather issues and deficient infrastructure provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and other government agencies as some of the causes of flight delays and cancel­lation in Nigeria.

Amokwu, however, said that a 60 per cent delay was high and far below International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.

Of the 4,765 delayed flights, 2,801 were delayed between 16 minutes and one hour.

Another 1,322 flights were delayed between one and two hours, while 407 flights were delayed between two and three hours.

A further 235 flights experienced delays of three hours and above.

The figures indicated that more than half of the delayed flights fell within the 16-minute to one-hour category, but 1,964 flights were delayed for more than one hour.

Also, the data revealed that nine airlines, out of the 14 carriers that operated, recorded cancelled flights during the month.

United Nigeria Airlines recorded the highest number of cancellations, with eight, followed by Air Peace with seven.

Enugu Air and Max Air each recorded four cancellations, while Green Africa, Ibom Air, Rano Air and ValueJet recorded three cancellations each. Arik Air also recorded one cancellation.