It was pure drama that took place recently as scores of Nigerians on Thursday night protested the delay of their flight by Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammad Local Airport in Lagos.

The passengers lamented that their flight was postponed without prior notice by the airline from 8am till 8pm.

This is coming a few days after the Nigerian government said airline operators in the country must refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay.

“On domestic flights, delay beyond one hour, a carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour.

“Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets. For delays between 10pm and 4am, the carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email, and transport to-and-fro airport,” the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika had said.

Data released by NACA show that in the first quarter of this year, out of the 14,662 domestic flights operated in the country, 7,554 were delayed.

Also, 562 flights were delayed out of the 1,871 international flights operated out of the country. Nine international and 149 domestic flights were canceled.

Currently, there are nine domestic airlines operating scheduled flights in the country, while 19 airlines operate international flights in and out of Nigeria, according to the NCAA data.