Domestic airlines operating in Nigeria recorded 8,825 cases of flight delay from January to March, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said.

Statistics released by the Consumer Protection Department of the NCAA shows that 14,633 flights were operated by eight airlines during the period under review, while 208 flights were cancelled for various reasons.

The statistics were made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

It listed the airlines in operation as Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, First Nation, Med-View and Overland.

According to the record, Air Peace, which operated 5,066 flights, topped the chart of delayed flights with 2, 901 and 59 cancelled flights.

It said that Arik Air followed with 2,322 delayed flights and 56 cancellations out of 3,972 flights, while Dana Air operated 1,726 flights with 1,043 cases of flight delay and one cancellation.

The document said that Azman Air recorded 792 and 23 delayed and cancelled flights, respectively, out of 1,140 flights it operated during the period.

According to the record, Medview Airline operated 894 flights with 632 delayed flights and 15 cancellations, Overland, 614 flights with 484 delayed and 12 cancelled while FirstNation Airways had 359 flights with 101 delayed and three cancelled.

NAN reports that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N6 billion for the procurement of navigational aids such as Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Aeronautic Information System (AIS) for some major airports.

Stakeholders are hopeful that the installation of the equipment will go a long way to reduce cases of flight delays and cancellations due to adverse weather and low visibility. (NAN)