22nd July, 2013
Arik Air passengers on Sunday erupted in anger and protested at the departure lounge of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, after their flight was delayed for nine hours.
Arik Air flight W34001 was to take off in Lagos at 8.15 a.m. and land in Warri, Delta State, southsouth Nigeria, at 9.25 a.m. but it was not until 5.30 p.m. after the protests turned violent that the passengers were finally airlifted.
Other Arik passengers who were to leave Lagos for Warri at 11.55 a.m. were also delayed for at least five hours and were finally airlifted at 5.30 p.m.
At least 106 passengers were affected, said Engineer Gracious Ayirioritse Omatseye, National Vice Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, who was one of the enraged passengers.
Omatseye said some passengers who could not bear the delay had to fly to Benin, Edo State, and to travel to Warri by road.
“We were to leave Lagos for Warri at 8.15 in the morning but the airline told us the weather was bad. But at 2p.m. we were still at the airport while Lagos – Abuja flights had gone and come back at least three times,” Omatseye said.
He said efforts to seek management intervention did not yield any results.
Sources said as the delay lasted the angry passengers stormed the departure lounge and prevented Abuja passengers from boarding planes.
Tension rose and Arik Air was forced to airlift the passengers to Warri on their Bombadier John Paul II.
The National Civil Aviation Policy seeks to protect passengers against operational flight delays.
When contacted, Arik Air spokesperson, Banji Ola, said the delay was caused by technical reasons.
Ola did not expatiate. “I’m not an engineer,” he said.
Many Nigerian airlines delay passengers for hours and blame weather or operational reasons for the delays.
—Simon Ateba