…As United Nigeria, Max Air top q3 2025 flight cancellations — Report
By Cyril Ogar
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, alongside the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, has unveiled the Enterprise Content Management System ,ECMS, as part of efforts to move the Ministry from manual paperwork to a fully digital operational framework.
The unveiling was announced in a statement signed by Tunde Moshood, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, who described the initiative as a major milestone in the Ministry’s digital transformation drive.
According to the statement, the ECMS is expected to strengthen aviation and aerospace policies, certifications, programmes, and oversight functions by ensuring reliable record-keeping and timely access to accurate information.
Speaking at the event, Walson-Jack said the ECMS goes beyond being a digital platform, noting that it represents a commitment to safety, accountability, institutional memory, and service excellence within the aviation and aerospace sector.
“It is a pleasure to be here today at the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development for the official launch of the Enterprise Content Management System. Any day we gather to reduce paper, speed up work, and locate files without embarking on a search-and-rescue mission is a good day indeed”, she said.
She noted that the Ministry occupies a strategic position in Nigeria’s national development architecture, driving connectivity, trade, tourism, security, and technological advancement, adding that the ECMS launch sends a clear signal of intent from a ministry with extensive responsibilities.
“In a sector where safety, accuracy, and timeliness are non-negotiable, reliance on paper files that occasionally develop wings of their own is no longer sustainable”, Walson-Jack stated.
Commending the leadership and staff of the Ministry, she praised their readiness to embrace change, describing the transition to digital operations as essential in a technically intensive sector where documentation underpins safety standards and international obligations.
“With today’s launch, I am pleased to formally welcome the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development into the growing community of ECMS users across the Federal Civil Service. You are joining a movement that is discovering, sometimes as a pleasant surprise, that digital files do not hide in cupboards, disappear into drawers, or wait patiently for someone to remember where they were kept,” she said.
Walson-Jack explained that deploying the ECMS on the 1Gov Cloud platform represents a significant shift in public service operations, offering secure digital records, automated workflows, electronic approvals, interoperability, and real-time collaboration.
“The most important feature of this system is that decisions will now be driven by timely access to information, rather than the physical location of files”, she added.
She further noted that the development positions the Ministry to meet the Federal Government’s directive to fully digitalise work processes by 31 December 2025, directing that all official correspondence should henceforth be routed through the approved digital platform.
On his part, Keyamo described the ECMS as well-suited to the aviation sector due to its vast and decentralised structure.
He said: “It appears that this system, the 1Gov ECMS, is designed for aviation”.
He explained that the system would reduce delays previously caused by extensive paperwork exchanged across airports, agencies, and headquarters.
In another development, United Nigeria Airlines and Max Air recorded the highest rates of flight cancellations among domestic carriers in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, according to the latest industry performance data released by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority ,NCAA.
In its Q3 2025 flight delay and cancellation report, which reviewed operations between July and September and compared them with the same period in 2024, the NCAA said United Nigeria Airlines posted a cancellation rate of 0.63%.
This represents a marginal improvement from the 0.70% recorded in Q3 2024.
Max Air followed with a cancellation rate of 0.42% in Q3 2025, down from 0.60% in the corresponding period last year.
Despite these figures, the regulator noted a broad improvement in operational reliability across the domestic aviation sector, with total cancellations declining significantly year-on-year.
Arik Air recorded a cancellation rate of 0.30% in Q3 2025, a sharp improvement from the 1.70% posted in Q3 2024.
Air Peace also achieved a notable reduction, with cancellations dropping to 0.09% from 1.70% in the previous year.
Aero Contractors maintained a steady performance, recording a cancellation rate of 0.30% in both periods under review.
Green Africa improved its operational performance, cutting its cancellation rate to 0.27% in Q3 2025 from 0.50% a year earlier.
Ibom Air also recorded a great improvement, reducing cancellations from 0.80% in Q3 2024 to 0.12% in Q3 2025. NG Eagle posted one of the lowest cancellation rates at 0.03%, down from 0.10% in the previous year.
Similarly, Overland Airways, Rano Air and Value Jet each recorded cancellation rates of 0.03% in Q3 2025, compared with 0.30 per cent, 0.10% and 0.30©, respectively, in the same period of 2024. XEJet recorded a cancellation rate of 0.12% during the quarter.
Overall, the NCAA reported that a total of 17,731 domestic flights were operated between July and September 2025, an increase from 15,989 flights recorded during the same period in 2024.
Within this period, 80 flights were cancelled, representing a sharp decline from the 251 cancellations recorded in Q3 2024.
On flight delays, the authority said Air Peace recorded the highest delay rate in Q3 2025, although performance improved year-on-year.
The airline posted a delay rate of 6.87 per cent during the quarter, down from 8.07% in the corresponding period of 2024.
Max Air followed with a delay rate of 3.75% in Q3 2025, compared to 4.11% a year earlier, while United Nigeria Airlines recorded a delay rate of 3.42% slightly lower than the 3.48% posted in Q3 2024.
The NCAA said the data reflects continued efforts by airlines to improve operational efficiency and reliability, even as passenger traffic and flight volumes continue to rise.
The regulator reaffirmed its commitment to monitoring airline performance and enforcing compliance with operational standards to enhance passenger experience and safety across Nigeria’s aviation sector.
