Seasonal Effects of Weather Elements on Flight Operations at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the significance of weather conditions on aviation transport at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Records on visibility, rainfall, cloud cover, wind speed and direction to cloud cover, and two aspects of flight operations (flight delays and cancellations) for 15 years (2000-2014) were collected from the secondary source. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient, the coefficient of determination, t-test, and multiple linear correlations were used to ascertain relationships between weather elements and flight operations (flight delays and cancellations). Findings of this study show that wind speed has no effect on flight delays since the test of significance value of 1.63 was less than the critical value 1.77. The major weather elements that influenced flight operations was cloud cover. Individual weather elements on their own do not affect flight operations, however, when they are combined, affects aviation transportation significantly.