Chaos at airports over flight disruptions

There has been chaos at airports across the country following disruptions in airline schedules, Daily Trust reports.

The recent spate of flight delays and cancellations by domestic airlines forced passengers to groan and call on the appropriate authorities to stem the tide.

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A video emerged at the weekend of Dana Air passengers scrambling to board an aircraft after hours of delays of their flights at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.

It was learnt that many of the passengers had been stranded for hours but they all invaded the tarmac scrambling to board the aircraft when it was clear it could not convey all the passengers.

A source who witnessed the incident described it as a survival of the fittest as all the passengers struggled to get on the flight.

Dana Air has apologised to its passengers for the incident blaming it on the breakdown of two of its aircraft.

Daily Trust reports that the Dana Air’s drama was just one out of many chaotic situations triggered at airports due to disruption in airline schedules, which sources blame on the depleting fleet by all the airlines.

A passenger, Motunrayo Animashaun, told our correspondent how her Max Air Lagos-Abuja flight was delayed for several hours at the Abuja airport last week.

Also, another passenger said his Azman Kaduna-Lagos flight was overbooked causing commotion when the flight was called at Kaduna Airport.

An airport official at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos who spoke with our correspondent yesterday confirmed that chaos has been the order of the day in recent times.

“You will see some irate passengers beating up airline officials for delaying flights without ample explanation,” the official said.

Daily Trust, however, learnt that authorities have intervened to stem the tide.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the regulatory authority is said to have been inundated with complaints from passengers over disruption in flight schedules.

When contacted yesterday, the Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, however, said he was meeting with his team yesterday before he could comment on the issue.

In apologising to its passengers, Dana said, “On Friday 18, and Saturday 19, December 2020, two of our aircraft became unserviceable in Lagos and Abuja respectively, compelling us to ground both aircraft in line with our strict safety standards and global best practices.”

It, however, confirmed that its maintenance team had been deployed to conduct proper checks on both aircraft.

“To compensate for this regrettable service failure, we are offering free tickets to all our guests on the affected flights, while full refunds will be made available to guests who do not prefer to be rescheduled,” the airline said in a statement by its spokesperson, Kingsley Ezenwa.