Nigerian airlines are prioritising flights to airports with more passenger traffic as the shortage of aircraft persists.

The aircraft shortage is fuelled by high maintenance costs of airplanes and the grounding of some aircraft by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) due to lack of or poor maintenance.

As a result of the situation, airlines have reduced flights to destinations with lower passenger traffic, as they maximise the available fleet to feed destinations with higher demand so as to get higher returns.

Small airports such as Ilorin, Akure, Anambra, Asaba, Ibadan, Calabar and Enugu, among others, are seeing fewer flights while routes like Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Kano have frequent flights landing and take-off schedules.

Emeka Nwafor, managing director, Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport, told BusinessDay that there are few commercial planes flying in Nigeria now.

“Shortage of aircraft is affecting Anambra airport. For instance, an airline which operates one flight to Lagos and returns and one flight to Abuja and returns daily has reduced flight frequencies into and out of the airport.

“Currently, these flights do not operate as they used to. We now have skeletal weekly flights. The frequency has been reduced. Sometimes, there are cancellations and sometimes, there are no flights at all,” Nwafor said.

He disclosed that the second airline that operates into Anambra airport has an even more challenging problem, noting that at some point, this particular airline came down to one airplane.

“Once an airline delays a flight, that delay will affect its other operations. As an airport, we depend on aeronautical revenue such as aircraft landing and passenger service charges. This can only happen when the passenger flies. We are not very strong in retail, which are businesses at the airport terminal,” Nwafor further said.

In the last few months, few planes have had to feed several passengers on domestic routes as Nigerian airlines struggle with fleet reduction owing to high cost of maintenance.

Airlines that have sent their aircraft on maintenance are unable to return them as a result of the skyrocketing costs fuelled by foreign exchange scarcity.

Others have been forced by the NCAA to ground their aircraft for the inability to send them for maintenance, BusinessDay’s checks show.

In addition to these, the grounding of Dana Air, a relatively low-cost carrier, which had six aircraft in its fleet, has also impacted the fleet operating domestic routes.

Routes previously operated by Dana Air have seen increases in ticket costs.

Ndukwe Ginika Ogechi, chief executive officer, Geena Travels And Tours Ltd, told BusinessDay that in the last few weeks, ticket prices have continued to increase while seat capacity dwindled as there are no aircraft to service underserved routes.

“My clients have been complaining because it has been difficult to get flights going to destinations such as Asaba, Enugu, Owerri and some northern destinations. The airlines which previously operated two or more flights to these destinations may either operate one daily flight or not have any flight at all,” Ogechi said.

Data obtained by BusinessDay from NCAA shows that 13 domestic airlines operating in Nigeria have a total of 91 aircraft. This data includes aircraft that have gone on maintenance.

Sources close to the NCAA told BusinessDay that apart from Dana Air that has been grounded, over half of the 91 aircraft have gone on maintenance, putting a strain on the few operating aircraft.

BusinessDay’s checks show that five years ago, when just 10 domestic airlines operated on Nigerian routes, they had a fleet of over 120 airplanes.

The plane shortage has now been worsened by the grounding of Arik Air fleet by Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation, on Tuesday.

Travel experts say the reduction in aircraft has made travel exclusively for the rich and encouraged some airlines to monopolise certain routes.

Christopher Penninck, managing director, Asaba Airport Company, said the few aircraft that are available now are flying on high traffic routes such as Lagos to Abuja, or international routes to earn foreign exchange.

“The current aircraft shortage has a lot of impact. Currently, we have 70 percent less traffic. It is terrible. Some airports have no flights,” Penninck said.

He explained that the government should drastically lower the charges of the federal agencies.

“The government is overcharging and limiting the development of the industry. We are basically doing business to pay the inefficient agencies,” Penninck further said.