Nigeria’s Domestic Airlines Record 765 Flight Delays in Q3 — NCAA

Domestic airlines operating across Nigeria recorded a total of 765 flight delays between July and September 2025, accounting for 22.95 per cent of the 17,731 flights operated at 26 domestic airports, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has revealed in its latest Summary of Airline Flight Performance.

The quarterly report shows that 80 flights were cancelled during the period representing about 0.12 per cent of total operations as local carriers continued efforts to improve punctuality and operational reliability.

According to the data, Air Peace accounted for the largest share of delays, with 6.87 per cent of its flights delayed, followed by Max Air (3.75 per cent), United Nigeria Airlines (3.42 per cent), Rano Air (1.74 per cent) and XE Jet (1.62 per cent). Other carriers including Ibom Air, Aero Contractors, Arik Air, ValueJet, Overland Airways, NG Eagle, Umza Air and Green Africa also recorded varying levels of delays across the quarter.

On flight cancellations, United Nigeria Airlines topped the list with 0.63 per cent, followed by Max Air (0.42 per cent). Airlines under the receivership of the C(AMCON), Aero Contractors and Arik Air, jointly accounted for 0.30 per cent of cancellations during the review period.

Comparative figures from Q3 2024 show that 843 flights were delayed under the previous year’s operations, amounting to 25.29 per cent of flights, while 251 cancellations translated into a 1.58 per cent cancellation rate indicating marginal improvement in service performance year-on-year.

By Oshuniran Sheriff Ola