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…Billions lost, airplanes grounded
By Chinelo Obogo
If there is any trauma airlines’ management and flight crew dread, it is bird strikes.
The birds hit the jet and the company’s finances feel the heat. This is aside from the safety threats that may accompany a bird strike.
Many pilots, crews, passengers, goods and jetliners have been lost to this menace, currently on the rise in Nigeria.
The latest casualty is United Nigeria Airlines.
On Sunday, 15 February 2026, one of its jets, an Airbus A320 suffered a bird strike.
One of the engines sucked in a bird during the take-off of Flight UN0519 scheduled for 12:00 hours from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,
For the airline, this incident was the second bird strike in less than 24-hours and the fourth since January 2026. Both planes had to be withdrawn from operations and grounded, causing the airline to lose millions in revenue daily.
The chairman of UNA, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, told Daily Sun that the airline had had enough of the recurring bird strikes and decided to take the matter directly to the Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Olubunmi Kuku.
Earlier in the week, he led a UNA delegation to meet with Kuku at FAAN’s headquarters in Lagos and at the meeting, he said that bird strikes have become a major operational and financial challenge for airlines. He explained that when an aircraft is grounded, it disrupts operations, inconveniences passengers and most dreadfully, causes huge financial losses for the airline.
He said the increasing frequency of these incidents demands urgent attention and collaboration between airlines and FAAN.
Incidents since 2005
Bird strikes are not new to Nigeria. Between 2005 and 2010, over 200 bird strike incidents were reported across the country’s airports and this problem has worsened over the last 10 years. According to a report from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), 134 bird strike incidents occurred across the country between 2015 and 2020.
Between 2016 and 2017, domestic airlines experienced no less than 27 bird strike incidents and data from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) shows that airlines suffered 14 bird strikes during take-offs and another 13 on landings, with half of the incidents happening at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
In 2021, Air Peace alone suffered 14 bird strikes, which affected its engines, while the defunct Dana Air, Arik Air, and other operators also reported incidents.
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By 2022, the worrisome incidents had worsened with the Head of Bird/Wildlife Hazard Control for the NCAA, Azike Edozie, saying that there were 93 bird strike incidents at airports in just the first six months of 2022. He stated that 54 of those incidents which represented about 70 per cent of total occurrences had been recorded at the Lagos airports alone. By September 17, 2022, the total for the year had increased to 93, with 32 of those occurring in just two months.
In 2022, an Air Peace flight had to abort a Lagos–Owerri trip and make an emergency return to Lagos after a bird strike damaged its landing gear, though no casualties were reported.
In 2024, Air Peace alone recorded about 43 bird strikes which is triple the 14 it recorded in 2021. Another notable incident happened in November 2024, when an Air Peace flight scheduled from Abuja to Lagos suffered a bird strike before takeoff. The pilot aborted the flight and passengers were evacuated safely.
FAAN, in the past, complained that for over 20 years, different species of birds had bred and multiplied within the airport vicinity and this worsened the incidents of bird strikes.
Experts have consistently identified poor waste management around airports, dense vegetation and inadequate wildlife equipment as some of the factors that have allowed bird strikes to blossom.
In October 2024, the Authority took delivery of bird strike fighting equipment from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to enhance safety and mitigate wildlife hazards at airports across the country but the increase of the incidents in the early months of 2025 showed the problem had not only persisted but intensified despite the acquisition of equipment as Air Peace recorded about 34 bird strikes in 2025 within just a few months of the year and MMIA Lagos had four bird strikes on Runway 18R in a single day in 2025, causing the NCAA Director-General, Captain Chris Najomo, to declare bird strike prevention a high-priority task.
MMIA, Port Harcourt International Airport, Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport in Owerri, and Akwa Ibom International Airport are the top four airports worst hit by bird strikes. Lagos alone accounts for 55–70 per cent of all national incidents due the location of the airport to human habitats and poor waste management.
FAAN disclosed that it has established a dedicated Bird/Wildlife Hazard Control Unit, operating using four major strategies: flight schedule modification, habitat modification and exclusion, the use of repellents and harassment methods, and direct wildlife removal which are carried out by professionals.
Losses
Airlines estimate the cost of replacing engines damaged by bird strikes at about N3 billion annually. Though the actual amount spent by airlines to repair aircraft damaged by bird strikes cannot be accurately specified, experts have put the total figure at over N20 billion annually.
At the business meeting organised by the Aviation Round Table (ART) in Lagos in 2023, with the theme ‘Aviation Reset: Agenda for the New Dispensation’, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, disclosed that the airline had lost aircraft to 18 bird strike incidents in 2023 alone. He mentioned that the airline recently lost parts of the engine of its newly acquired Embraer 195 E2 to a bird strike incident, which cost about $3.2 million to replace. He said the aircraft had to be grounded for an additional week because the manufacturers had not anticipated it.
“Whenever we are criticizing the domestic airlines for delays or cancellations, we should try to find out the causes of these delays and cancellations. There were two bird strike incidents at Benin Airport alone in one day. Also, just recently, it cost us about $3.2 million to bring a part of one of the engines of our E195-E2 aircraft, which was attacked by birds,” Onyema said.
Weeks later, Onyema appeared at a webinar on ‘Repositioning the Aviation Sector for Revenue Generation and Growth’, organised by former Nigerian Bar Association chairman, Olisa Agbakoba, where he gave an update on the bird strike incidents. He revealed that Air Peace suffered 26 bird strike incidents between February and June 2023 alone an average of five bird strikes every month.
“Air Peace had 26 bird strikes between February and June this year. In fact, on the average, we suffer about five bird strikes every month. There was a day we had two bird strikes. It is not the duty of the airlines to chase birds at the airports,” he said.
During a separate interview on ARISE TV, Onyema again revealed that the bird strike crisis had worsened. He disclosed that Air Peace alone recorded 49 bird strike incidents across Nigeria between January and September 2025. He said bird strikes, in addition to multiple taxation, are the major challenges facing Nigerian airlines.
He said: “Air Peace has had 49 bird strikes in Nigeria from January to September. One bird strike could cripple your aircraft for the next month. At that moment, there’s no two ways about it. These bird strikes often lead to costly delays and serious disruptions in flight schedules.”
FAAN’s response
When Okonkwo and the management team of United Nigeria Airline visited Kuku, she identified the major causes of bird strikes and confirmed that FAAN was implementing environmental measures, including improved grass and habitat management, while also strengthening corporate social responsibility around airport environments.
FAAN further announced plans to upgrade airfield lighting at Category II airports to support extended operations, with apron and lighting improvements in Benin airport, and lighting upgrades in Jos. It also pledged stricter enforcement against unruly passengers and expressed willingness to review the proposed Abuja MRO land request with hope to fast-track the allocation as part of efforts to strengthen local aircraft maintenance capacity.
