The Nigerian Government plans to impose sanctions on Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines and other airlines over incessant delays on domestic flights.

This comes as Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines topped the chart of airlines with the highest number of delayed flights in August, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.

The report, released by the NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, showed that 4,765 of the 7,961 flights scheduled for August 2026 were delayed.

This means that almost six in every 10 flights did not operate as scheduled.

Further breakdown indicated that 71 per cent and 76 per cent of flights operated by Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines, respectively, were delayed.

This is the bitter experience many domestic passengers face amid high airfares.

Speaking in an interview with DAILY POST on the development, Achimugu said the NCAA was taking regulatory steps to address the issue.

According to him, the NCAA had met with Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines and Max Air over flight delays and issued stern warnings to the airlines.

However, he urged air passengers to fly with alternative airlines in Nigeria.

“When one airline is continuously misbehaving, buy tickets on another airline and make your flight,” he said.

Flight delays: Ojikutu blames weak enforcement, poor airline business plans

Also speaking, an aviation industry expert, Capt. John Ojikutu, blamed persistent flight delays and cancellations in Nigeria on weak enforcement of aviation regulations and poor business planning by airlines.

Ojikutu, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, said although regulations were in place to protect air passengers, the major problem was the effectiveness of enforcement by regulatory authorities.

“The regulation is there to protect the customer. What is the enforcement? That’s what you should be asking,” Ojikutu said in an interview with DAILY POST.

“Regulation is already there. What is the effectiveness of the enforcement on the airline? That is where the problem is,” he added.

According to him, passengers were aware of their rights and know where to report violations, but regulatory authorities must take effective action whenever complaints were lodged against airlines.

“The most important part is that the customer themselves, they know they are right. They know whom to report to. If you report, then you expect the regulatory agency to take action on the airline,” he said.

Ojikutu questioned how frequently such enforcement actions were being taken, stressing that flight cancellations and delays had remained a recurring problem in the Nigerian aviation sector.

He also shared his personal experience with flight delays, saying he had once boarded an aircraft three times before eventually being transported on another aircraft.

“I went to Abuja with the new one. I have a terrible experience with it. On my way, we had to board the flight about three times. Can you imagine?

“We boarded three times and the aircraft could not go until another aircraft came from wherever,” he said.

He said the experience resulted in him returning to Lagos much later than expected.

Ojikutu further accused the regulatory agency of being “very, very ineffective” in enforcing aviation regulations.

“When I talk, the agency gets annoyed. Very, very ineffective in enforcement of regulation. It is either they are doing it deliberately or they do not even know what they are supposed to do,” he said.

The aviation expert also attributed some of the delays to airlines operating aircraft that are too large for the available passenger traffic on certain routes.

He argued that airlines should develop credible business plans based on passenger numbers before deciding on their routes and frequency of operations.

“You must have a business plan before you go there. How credible is your business plan, especially when you are going to NCAA?” he asked.

Ojikutu questioned the rationale behind multiple airlines operating several daily flights between Lagos and Abuja when passenger numbers may not be sufficient to sustain such operations.

“You want to be running to Abuja three, four times in a day. Where is the passenger? How many passengers are you looking for? How many passengers are going to Abuja in a day?” he asked.

He advised airlines to consider less congested routes where there was sufficient passenger demand instead of concentrating their operations on Lagos and Abuja.

“Some of the airlines, they have to choose routes where there is passenger. Everybody wants to go to Abuja, but is the passenger there for you to go to Abuja based on the number of aircraft that are flying to Abuja?” Ojikutu said.

He also recalled the operational model used by the former Nigerian Airways, saying smaller aircraft were deployed to connect passengers from regional routes to major airports.

“Go back and refer to what Nigerian Airways was doing in their days,” he said.

According to him, the former national carrier used larger aircraft on major routes while smaller aircraft served other destinations, helping to distribute passenger traffic and reduce pressure on major routes.

“But now all these airlines, when they come in, they go and buy big aircraft. When you buy big aircraft that is going to carry about a hundred and something, and you do not have the passengers, you do not have 50 passengers to carry, you are going to ruin at the last,” he said.

Ojikutu also criticised the concentration of airline operations in Lagos, arguing that the regulator should encourage airlines to establish operational bases in other parts of the country.

“Everybody wants to operate from Lagos. You cannot operate from Lagos, find another place to operate from,” he said.

He proposed a system where airports would be categorised according to their level of traffic, with charges adjusted accordingly to encourage airlines to operate regional routes.

The aviation expert said such a model could encourage airlines to connect smaller cities and towns rather than competing heavily on the Lagos-Abuja route.

He said airlines could operate regional routes between cities such as Kaduna, Jos, Minna and Sokoto before connecting passengers to major airports.

“The ones that you can carry passengers from Sokoto and all these things and bring them to Abuja, yes, but you are not going to be in Abuja as if you are competing with all these big airlines,” he said.

Ojikutu also expressed concern over the short lifespan of several Nigerian airlines, blaming the trend partly on poor business planning.

“What is the life span of all these airlines? Their life span is very short,” he said.

He argued that the regulatory authority should ensure that airlines present credible and sustainable business plans before being allowed to commence operations.

“And all these things are caused because there is no business plan. And the NCAA is not helping them to get their business plan correct,” Ojikutu told DAILY POST.