Yemisi Izuora
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has grieved over the effect of flight cancelation on the economy as many scheduled business meetings could not be met on account of the cancelation.
The operators attributed the situation to severe weather conditions as a result of harmattan haze.
The AON told journalists in Lagos that about fifty per cent of domestic flights were cancelled by Nigerian airlines in the last two weeks.
They said that the cancellation had not only affected them but also affected the Nigerian economy.
Chairman of AON, Capt. Noggie Meggison, said that over 80 per cent of flights were delayed as a result of the poor visibility occasioned by weather condition.
Meggison however said weather would not have been a challenge if the country had put in place appropriate take-off and landing facilities.
He said, “Navigational facilities at most of the airports are not working. It is very shameful that we close airports over little weather situations, whereas in Europe and other places, aircraft take off with zero visibility.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had forecast the occurrence of “moderate to severe outbreaks of dust in the country” during the harmattan period between November 2015 to March 2016.