Airlines cancel more flights over bad weather

Airlines cancel more flights over bad weather

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

Domestic airlines on Thursday canceled more flights over poor visibility on major routes from Lagos  and Abuja into Enugu, Calabar and  Benin.

Arising from the bad weather airplanes scheduled to fly from Abuja and Lagos into airports in South Eastern and South South routes could not leave their aerodromes on account of en route weather indicating less than 800 meters, the minimum prescribed by regulatory authorities.

Investigations by The Nation revealed that many passengers remained stranded at airports nationwide as airlines oscillated from delayed , rescheduled to cancelled flights .

At the Lagos Airport general aviation terminal one, hundreds of passengers remained stranded for hours awaiting when airlines will announce their scheduled flights.

Same sour experience prevailed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two , Lagos where airlines continue to either cancel or reschedule flights.

Speaking in an interview, spokesman of Air Peace, Chris Iwarah said the airline on Thursday canceled flights originating from Lagos and Abuja into Calabar and Benin.

Iwarah said poor weather also forced Air Peace to reroute Enugu flight into Owerri on account of poor visibility at destination.

He said :" The flights affected are those originating from Lagos and Abuja to the cancelled destinations."

Also speaking, Arik Air , spokesman, Ola Adebanji said bad weather still prevailed but did not give details whether flights were cancelled.

Meanwhile,MedView  Airline has given reasons why its flight  out of London, Gatwick  was delayed stating that the airline had to deal with an Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situation.

Aircraft on ground means, the airplane had to be parked due to technical issues.

The airline said the glitches associated with its flights was compounded by the holidays and other uncomplimentary factors that have made the situation linger.

The airline in a statement issued from the United Kingdom by Mr. Michael Ajigbotosho, the Chief Operating Officer/Accountable Manager (COO/AM) stated that the aircraft had to embark on an air return as part of safety measures.

He also stated that the airline had got approval for three aircraft to airlift at least 700 passengers but for the unruly behavior of some passengers which made Border Force wade in and eventually only two of the flights could leave.

The statement explained the airline’s dilemma,”Our flight VL 2101 out of London to Lagos on Friday December, 22 which has about 300 passengers on board returned back to Gatwick after departure as a precautionary measure taken by the Pilot- in – Command (PiC) in line with Aviation Standard and Recommended Practices.”

“This led to cancellation of the flight as the aircraft was declared AOG (Aircraft On Ground). The passengers were catered for, they were lodged in a hotel and those who decided to go back home were also taken care of.”

“After the aircraft was declared AOG, we had to wait for a maintenance report. The aircraft had to remain on ground until a certified expert carried out the necessary checks and certify that the aircraft is airworthy. And the holiday compounded the problem.”

“In line with that confirmation, we decided to seek for a relief flight and tried as much as possible go get the approval from both the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Nigeria and the CAA of United Kingdom in Gatwick. We attest to their full cooperation and we appreciate them.”

“We announced to operate three flights feeling the concern of all our passengers. On Wednesday December 27, we positioned three aircraft after securing the approval of the CAA including Nigerian authority. ”

“Disappointingly, due to the unruly behaviour of some Nigerian passengers, the Border Force had to intervene to support the operations for crowd control purposes.”

“These three aeroplanes would have evacuated 700 passengers which would have normalized the situation. But the passengers neither understood or knew the challenges ahead which resorted into having a delayed operation and crew rest and we ended up operating two flights out of three.”

“We use this medium to appeal to our Nigerian customers. As much as we appreciate their patronage and apologize for the experience they went through this Christmas, we seek for their understanding to know that their safety comes first before any other thing. ”

“We feel their concern and the expectations of meeting their families for the Christmas Holiday. Our normal flights resume on Friday for London, Dubai and Jeddah. “

Meanwhile, IRATE passengers of Med-view Airlines this morning took over the airlines check-in counter disrupting the airline’s activities over allegations of contractual breach.

The passengers claim they have been stranded due to the airline’s inability to airlift them to their destinations all through the Yuletide.

The aggrieved passengers marched to NCAA Consumer Protection Department desk to complain about the seeming abandonment.

Some of the passengers  claimed they ought to have flown out of the country to their destination, London, since on the December  24, 2017 , Christmas Eve but have been stranded since then without any concrete travel plan from the airline and no plan for restitution.

Dubai passengers too joined the fray as some of them said they had a flight for one of which they could not ascertain whether or not it would fly especially as the were passengers from Monday’s Dubai flight that were equally stranded.

As at 12:30pm London bound passengers got reprieve when an airline official appeared with a list for those travelling as they were being endorsed to fly on Ethiopian Airlines, Kenyan Airways and Rwand Air.

While a Dubai passenger provided a text message sent from Med-view that the flight has been rescheduled to 2am on the 29th due to operational reasons and regretted all the inconveniences.