AON Condemns Aviation Unions’ Violent Disruptions of Flight Operations on August 1

– Says disruption of flight operations by unions exposed vulnerability of airport security

– Identifies factors responsible for flight delays

Chinedu Eze

Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has condemned the disruption of flight operations at the domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja on August 1, 2026 in which Air Peace was targeted.

In a communique issued at the end of its general meeting in Abuja, AON called for urgent steps to prevent future unlawful interference.

The operators recalled that the disruptions occurred at the two busiest airports in the country where the Union members blocked access to Air Peace’s departure terminals.

AON said the Unions “virtually brought all activities of the airline to a screeching halt by blocking the entrances to terminals and check-in counters and preventing the airline workers from accessing their offices and workstations to check-in passengers and offer services to passengers.”

It referenced the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 17, which defines ‘unlawful interference’ as “… acts or attempted acts such as to jeopardize the safety of civil aviation, as conformation that what the unions did on that day was violation of aviation safety and security regulations with serious immediate and future local and global implications for the aviation sector in Nigeria

The operators identified the implications of the disruption and said it gave rise to direct financial losses for airlines.

AON said, “Airlines lost huge sums of revenue together with other additional costs as a result of the disruptions. For instance, Air Peace alone had more than 70 of its flights affected with estimated losses of over ₦2 billion.

“Similarly, more than 30 flights of United Nigeria Airlines, impacting about 13,000 passengers going by the aircraft and sectors scheduled for that day. Furthermore, airlines had to carry the unwarranted burden of rebooking passengers, offering accommodation, paying refunds, repositioning crew, rescheduling aircraft and incurring other recovery costs in an already very harsh operating environment, with unprecedented high fuel costs, very high foreign-exchange based maintenance costs, etc.”

The body said that the action of the unions disrupted other flights across the entire networks

It explained that though the strike action took place mainly at the Lagos and Abuja airports, other flights across the entire domestic, regional and international networks of the airlines in the country were directly affected as Lagos and Abuja are the domestic hubs that funnel capacity across the country’s entire airports system.

The third implication, AON noted was that passengers were stranded across the nation at different airports in the country.

The disruption, the operators said, exposed the vulnerability of airport infrastructure.

AON noted, “It is instructive to put on record that the activities of the Unions clearly undermined the airport security regulations and exposed the vulnerability of Nigeria’s airport infrastructure contrary to globally instituted provisions of Aviation Security. When the actions of unions result in passengers and airlines’ staff being prevented from accessing airline terminals, the consequences extend beyond those involved.”

The operators also said that the incident gave rise to loss of international and investor confidence.

It also remarked, “It is worth mentioning that the recent incident by the aviation Unions has exposed the vulnerabilities in the security architecture of our airports and response plan by the Aviation Security (AVSEC) and calls for an immediate review and overhaul of security procedures at all airports across the country.”

AON also used the communique to make further clarifications.

On flight delays, the operators said it is never in the interest of any airline to delay or cancel flights as this always has severe financial and image consequences.

“Delays and cancellations are therefore the last thing any airline wants. In Nigeria, most of the causes of delays and cancellations are factors that are neither in the control of airlines nor caused by them.”

It identified the causes of flight delay and cancellation to include weather, saying that it is the major cause of delays, especially during the rainy seasons and the dust haze months of November to March.

Other causes include inadequate aircraft parking space due to congested aprons in both Lagos and Abuja airports; sunset airports and VIP movements.

“The closure of the airspace for security reasons to allow certain coded security movements is a significant cause of unpredictable delays across the entire system. This airspace closure for VIP movement though necessary, has its consequences on the operations of the airlines.

“The delays so occasioned by this factor are not caused by airlines, yet domestic airlines are regularly held responsible for their impact,” the body said.

AON also identified frequent bird strikes and foreign object damage (FOD) as some of the other factors responsible for flight delays and cancellation.

Other factors are unavailability and ever rising cost of aviation fuel, known as JetA1, which “today costs above N2500 per litre and has continued to rise fast and steadily.”

The body said on top of the continuous rise in the fuel price, fuel supply is at best epileptic at several secondary airports thereby causing delays.

On the reconstruction of the international terminal, known as Terminal 1, at the Lagos airport, AON commended government for the transformation going on.

“The AON commends the current ongoing construction and rehabilitation activities of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Federal Government to upgrade facilities at the airport terminal and give Nigerians a befitting infrastructure, we respectfully request that airlines, who are the key stakeholders, be carried along at the early stage to contribute their ideas towards the functionality and flow of the airport facility so as to address any design flaws that may affect functionality in future,” the body stated.