Nigeria's ten domestic carriers, including Arik Air, Air Peace, Med-View Airline, Aero Contractors, Azman Air, Overland Airways, FirstNation Airways and Discovery Air, suspended nearly all flights into and out of Lagos and other major cities on Saturday 16 February 2019, the date originally fixed for the country's presidential election. The shutdown followed years of precedent in which carriers ground domestic operations on election days to free up aircrew and aircraft for logistics and security duties, and to reflect the nationwide restriction on movement during voting hours.
A Postponement Compounds the Losses
The disruption was deepened when the Independent National Electoral Commission announced, in the early hours of the same Saturday, that it was postponing the vote by a week to 23 February. Airlines that had already cancelled or rescheduled flights in anticipation of election day found the sacrifice had counted for little, with industry estimates of losses running into tens of billions of naira across airlines, ground handlers and the private terminal operator at Murtala Muhammed Airport. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency said throughout that the country's airspace itself remained open and safe for those flights that did operate, even as the vast majority of scheduled domestic services stood down for the day.