Airlines cut flights, 70% of aircraft ‘stranded’ over checks

Nigerian airlines are experiencing service disruption as most aircraft are stranded at Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities worldwide, Daily Trust reports.

As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, many MRO facilities were shut down worldwide for months, but since countries began to ease the lockdown, MRO facilities are said to be extremely busy due to high volume of aircraft being checked; forcing many airlines to be in queues to maintain their aircraft.

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Nigerian airlines are not immune from the situation as most of their aircraft are currently due for C-Check while some of the aircraft that have been sent for checks are stranded.

This, Daily Trust learnt, has impacted on their operations, resulting in the airlines drastically cutting down on flights.

In recent times, passengers have had to complain about flights being rescheduled several times while some were cancelled.

“My Kaduna-Lagos flight was rescheduled four times as Air Peace kept sending me mails changing the flight time, and the flight was later cancelled last week,” a passenger told Daily Trust.

One of the airlines majorly impacted is Air Peace which has confirmed reduction in its flights by 70 per cent.

The Chief Operating Officer of the airline, Mrs. Toyin Olajide, explained that the airline had several aircraft out on C-Check abroad before COVID-19 and that they were caught up with the global lockdown.

Mrs. Olajide said the aircraft were now returning to full flight operations, assuring that Air Peace would connect all its domestic, regional and international destinations in the coming days.

The Managing Director of 7-Star Global Hangar, a domestic MRO facility, Engr. Isaac Balami, confirmed the development, saying he currently had four aircraft in his hangar.

Engr. Balami, therefore, called on the Federal Government to support local MRO facilities to expand to be able to meet domestic requirements for aircraft maintenance.