The troubled Nigerian aviation industry has recently been plunged into more crises with angry passengers creating stampedes and destroying the property of airlines and that of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at both the Lagos and Abuja airports over alleged delays and cancellation of flights.

The cost of a one-way ticket to Abuja from Lagos now hovers between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline and time of purchase.

Since last weekend, flight delays and cancellations have characterised the domestic scene as some of the airlines abruptly delayed or cancelled their flights, which didn’t go down well with the travelling public.

Some of the air travellers, especially at the Abuja airport, claimed that their flight to Lagos was delayed for about 14 hours by indigenous carriers without prior notice.

At the Abuja airport over the weekend, a video emerged of Dana Air passengers scrambling to board an aircraft after hours of delay of their flight.

Some of the passengers had to violently enter the airside of the airport, throwing safety and security protocols to the wind.

The video showed how some of the passengers ran into the tarmac, struggling to board an aircraft that was on the ground at the airport.

It was alleged that the airline overbooked passengers on the flight from Abuja to Lagos.

The same thing happened on Max Air, which presently operates only one aircraft.

Many of its passengers across the nation’s airports were stranded, especially those in Lagos and Abuja.

Also, on Monday, at the Abuja airport, the counters and facilities of Dana Air were destroyed by some angry passengers who claimed the airline refused to airlift them as advertised in their tickets.

A video, which went viral, showed how a physically challenged man destroyed Dana Air’s booking systems, laptops, and other gadgets at the airport, claiming that he was denied boarding despite holding a boarding pass.

The physically challenged man on a wheelchair insisted that he was discriminated against because he was a physically challenged man.

Apart from the gadgets of Dana Air, which were destroyed, some facilities of FAAN were also affected at the airport.

Though at the Lagos airport, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos, and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Lagos, were not destroyed, tensions were high in these places.

Some of the passengers complained that they had been at the airport for hours, hoping to catch an early morning flight out of Lagos to various destinations but were yet to do so.

A statement by Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa, the Manager, Corporate Communications, Dana Air, confirmed the attack on its systems at the Abuja airport.

He also confirmed the physically challenged man as one of the unruly passengers who led the destruction of its assets at the airport.

He said: “To put the issue into proper perspective, the said passenger, Person With Disability (PWD), who we regard as special passengers at Dana Air, got to our counter yesterday (Sunday) at about 8p.m for his flight and when our duty manager noticed him in the midst of the upsurge of passengers, approached him and politely explained to him that as a matter of policy, comfort and safety of our guests, we do not carry special passengers at night while offering to check him in first on the 7a.m flight, the next day. ¬

“The said passenger blatantly refused the offer and went violent on the duty manager, causing her injuries in the process.

“This same passenger also went further to destroy our check-in systems, chairs, COVID-19 protective glass shields and weighing machines at our counter in Abuja. We have our video evidence.

“This physically challenged has enjoyed the luxury of flying with us for many years even as other airlines have totally refused to sell tickets to him as a result of his reputation of verbally attacking able-bodied staff assigned to assist him when-ever he is flying.”

Ezenwa, however, regretted the frustrations of the passengers at this time, as¬suring that the management was working round the clock to resolve the undesirable issues the passengers were experiencing at the time.

He insisted that the airline would never, as a brand, discriminate against any passenger, no matter the circumstances.

Ezenwa also stated that the airline would not tolerate any act of violence against any of its staff, passengers or property, urging the physically challenged man to be civil in his engagements.

However, in order to avoid breakdown of law and order on its flights, Air Peace has deployed one of its three Boeing B777 aircraft to the Lagos-Enugu-Port Harcourt and Abuja-Enugu-Port Harcourt routes.

Stanley Olisa, the spokesman of the airline, said on phone that the airline decided to deploy the wide-body aircraft on the local routes in order to ensure comfort for its clients.

He said: “The passenger traffic is high at the moment. We don’t want any disruption to our flights. It is just a way of helping our Eastern brothers and sisters to travel with comfort at this time of the year. Acceptance has been good.”

Olisa emphasised further that some of the delays may be due to technical or operational reasons and vowed that Air Peace would continue to adhere to the te-nets of safety and security in its operations. (Daily Independent)

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