18th March, 2013
No fewer than 75 passengers of Arik airline were on Sunday stranded at the IIorin International Airport following non-availability of an aircraft to convey them to Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in IIorin reports that some of the passengers have passed a night at the airport waiting for an aircraft.
All the 75 passengers, who have paid for the flight since Saturday, were expected to be transported since noon on Saturday, but the aircraft did not show up at the airport till about one o’clock on Sunday.
The situation led to annoyance from some of the passengers, who claimed they have been at the airport since Saturday.
The Manager of the Arik airline at the IIorin International Airport, Mr. Damilola Oluwajana, who spoke with NAN on Sunday confirmed that 75 Arik airline passengers were actually stranded at the Airport.
He said they were supposed to be transported to Abuja since Saturday but unable to make it due to what he described as some logistics problem.
The manager said he had sent text messages to all the passengers of cancellation of a flight scheduled for midday of Sunday, which he said many of them did not receive. He said some of the passengers were unable to receive the texts because they purchased their tickets from agents who do not know their identity.
Oluwajana, however, declined to comment on the new schedule for the flight.
Some of the passengers, who spoke with NAN but pleaded anonimity, expressed annoyance over the situation and called on the airline to always be alive to its responsibility.
“We have so many things to do at our destinations and we are still in IIorin, it is unfortunate,” one of them said.