Travellers Award Releases Final List of Aviation Winners For 2021

The final list of winners for the aviation part of Travellers Awards was released today by the organisers. Travellers Award was instituted in 1996 by the Publishers of Travellers Magazine and Atqnews.com with the Theme “Promoting Excellence in Travels” is the leading Travel and Tourism Awards in Nigeria. The Awards will be presented on the 11th of March 2022 at Abuja Jabamah.

Aviation Winners

1. Aviation Personality of the Year: Capt Musa Nuhu DG NCAA

For navigating the resumption of Civil Aviation in Nigeria and bringing it back to good health within 12 months. He is also credited for deft handling of the Aeropolitics issues in 2021.

2. Aviation CEO Of The Year: Akin Olateru.

AIB cleared the backlog of many Accidents Investigations in the last 18 months. Under his watch AIB has grown and established itself as a relevant Player in Aviation in Nigeria and West Africa.

3. Aviation Company of the Year: Pathfinder

Most Travellers do not see the role played by this silent profilers and service providers that make for seamless operations of international travel in Nigeria. With 34 years of experience and operating in I8 domestic airports and 24 Airports across Africa Pathfinder is a shining example of private sector investment and Management in Aviation Business.

4. Aviation Handling Company Of The Year: SAHCO PLC.

Amongst the Top Airlines in Nigeria including 5 Nigerian Airlines and 6 International Airlines that have the highest number of flights and carried the highest number of passengers in 2021 SAHCO handled the most in 2021. It handled most out of the Top 11 Airlines in Nigeria. This includes the Top 5 Domestic and the Top 5 International Airlines.

5. Aviation Communicator Of The Year 2021: Nosa Aituamen of Radio Nigeria.

She has converted a 5 day Radio Programme into a mass media outlet with print and video linkages establishing a visibility never seen before in Aviation.

6. Airline Of The Year Domestic: Ibom Air

7. Airline of the Year International: Africa World Airline

8. African Airline of the year: Africa World Airlines

9. European Airline of the year: Turkish Airline

10. Best On Time Performance For International Airlines: Royal Air Maroc

11. Best On time Performer for European Airlines: Virgin Atlantic

12. Nigerian International Airline Of The Year: Air Peace

13. Best On time Performance for Domestic Airline: Ibom Air

14. Aviation School of the Year: Landover Aviation School

They produced the overall Best Student for IATA exams in 2021 and had highest rate of Passes for all Students in 2021

15. The Aviation Event of the Yea: The Interlining Agreement between DANA and Ibom Air.

This is a major, milestone for aviation business Nigeria. Having 2 domestic airlines agree to join systems and collaborate has been a solution that Nigerian airlines have avoided until now. Hopefully it works well and can grow to include other airlines.

14. Travel Personality Of The Year: Chief Allen Onyema

Chief Allen Onyema the Chairman of Air Peace was chosen as the Travel Personality of the Year 2021 due to his consistent performance in the Aviation Business. His Airline Air Peace is the first airline to bring a brand new commercial passenger plane to Nigeria since Arik Air and Virgin Nigeria more than 10 years ago. 5 Brand New Embraer E195 E2 Aircraft were received by Air Peace for operations in Nigeria. His Airline had been evacuating stranded Nigerians in many countries and became the official carrier of the Super Eagles.

In 2021 he became the positive force for Aviation and Travel Business in Nigeria. His Pan Nigeria messages endeared him to Nigerians as a unifying Leader. No wonder Nigerians rallied to support him in the impasse with the UAE.

Travellers Award had earlier unveiled African World Airline as the Best International Airline in Nigeria and Turkish as the Best from Europe. The winners were chosen from a Pool of 27 International Airlines that Operated 9673 Flights and carried over 2 million Passengers from 5 Airports in Nigeria. The Top 15 of these airlines were profiled.

The following parameters were used, percentage of Flight delays, Number of Lost Baggage, Unresolved Complaints, Total Number of Flights, and Total number of passengers carried. Using independent sources and statistics from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA the Verified data was ranked in hierarchy and Totalled. The Airlines with the lowest scores were chosen as winners. Based on this data, African World Airline from Ghana had the lowest scores of 23.

It ranked as Number 1 in the Number of Flights executed in 2021 to Lagos and Abuja. A total of 1,141 flights using an Embraer E145. It had 35% delay with no Baggage Lost and no Unresolved Passenger Complaints out of 90574 passengers it carried. Running such a high Number of Flights with no lost bag and No Complaints recorded against it is a rare feat.

Turkish Airlines is the Second Best International Airline in Nigeria. It is also the Best European Carrier in Nigeria for the year 2021. It had 669 Flights Using Airbus A330, A300 and Boeing B737 flights to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. It had 210585 Passengers the 4th highest with 24% flight Delay and no Unresolved Complaints by Passengers. It came 13th out of the Top 15 International Airlines in the Case of Lost Baggage. No Unresolved Passengers Complaints.

Lufthansa German Airlines is the 3rd Ranked International Airline in Nigeria. It Operated 555 Flights carrying 153780 Passengers from 3 Airports of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt Using an Airbus A330 Aircraft. It suffered 21% Flight Delays and had a good Record in Lost Baggage as it is ranked 3rd out of Top 15 Airlines. It ranked 11th in Unresolved Passenger Complaints out of 15 Airlines which is low.

The Nigerian Airline Air Peace is the 4th Ranked International Airline, it’s international operation is done out of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport using B777, E195 E2 and B737 to 8 Destinations operated 699 Flights with 31% delayed Flights carrying 65037 passengers. It had Zero Unresolved Complaints by Passengers but ranked 12th out of 15 Airlines in Lost Baggage complaints.

British Airways is ranked 5th with 584 Flights Carrying the Highest Number of Passengers 238339 in 2021. It suffered 29% flight delay operating a B777 Aircraft. It Ranked 8th out of 15 Airlines in Lost Baggage Complaints, and 11th out of 15 Airlines in matters of unresolved passenger Complaints. Of all the Top 15 International Airlines Virgin Atlantic had the Lowest Percentage of delays Flight. t had 19% of Flights delayed which is the best for all European Carriers.

African World Airline also won the Best African Airline of the Year 2021 in Nigeria. Royal Air Maroc from Morocco had the best On Time Performance of all International and Domestic Airlines in Nigeria at 3% of delayed flights. Its limited size of operations in Nigeria in 2021 did not enable it join the Top 15 list. The organisers had earlier announced Ibom Air as the Best Domestic Airline in Nigeria. The airline defeated 4 other Nigerian airlines, Air Peace, Green Africa, Arik and Dana for the Award.

This was based on the ranking of Nigerian airlines Using the following parameters. Average age of Aircraft, Schedule Integrity, Spread of Services, Customer Care, Inflight Services and total Number of Flights done in 2021. Independent research done by Publishers of Atqnews.com using statistics released by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and other sources. Nigerian airlines were ranked from 1 to 10 on all parameters and their scores totalled up. The airline with lowest scores were ranked as leaders.

About 65 to 70 Aircraft by 10 Airlines carried over 12 million passengers to over 20 active airports in Nigeria. Air Peace won the Award of the Best Nigerian International Airline of the year IbomAir came out Tops with the lowest score of 12 having topped the chart in four of the parameters. It only did badly in the spread as it flies to Only 6 destinations so it ranked 8 out of the 10 Airlines that were profiled. It also had the second highest number of flights done despite having only 7 Aircraft and was flying to only 6 Destinations. It had done more flights than airlines that had more planes and flew to more destinations.