NIGERIAN airlines are licking their wounds over the prevailing adverse weather conditions which prevented most of them from taking off from the major airports in the country since the last one week.
Investigations by BusinessWorld Intelligence reveals that no less than N200 million was lost to the harmattan haze which took over the airspace last week as the airlines could not operate normally. Airlines like Arik Air, Chanchangi, Aero Contractors, IRS, Nigerian Eagle and Dana Air all recorded huge loss in revenue during the period.
Further investigations revealed that Chanchangi Airline cancelled 22 flights to all the airports in the country. Although the airline declined to comment on the losses, investigation revealed that on the average, the airline has about 60 passengers on its aircraft to any of its destination, which amounts to a loss of N21,120,000 during the period.
Arik Air which prides itself as the largest in the Nigerian market and makes 130 landings daily under normal circumstance has so far  cancelled about 52 flights, which translate to a loss of about N49,920,000 in four days. Aero Contractors cancelled about 35 flights, which translate to a loss of about N33,600,000 within the period, while Nigerian Eagle Airlines lost about N28,800,000 having cancelled 30 flights.
Others include Dana Air which cancelled 22 flights losing N21,120,000 and IRS, which lost about N10, 000,000. Other airlines which were hit by the bad weather include Overland Airways, Associated Airlines and non-scheduled airlines that operate charter flights which collectively lost about N39, 000,000.
Reacting to the loss, operations manager of one of the airlines who would prefer anonymity said it was actually a bad time for the airlines which were already grappling with tough operational conditions with more or less no support from the federal government.