25th July, 2013
Hundreds of passengers with Nigeria’s largest airline, Arik Air, were exasperated on Wednesday night and Thursday morning after their flight from Lagos to New York was delayed for more than 15 hours.
The long wait came only three days after a violent protest by the airline’s enraged passengers was triggered by a 9-hour delay at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
While Arik Air blamed bad weather for Sunday’s flight delay from Lagos to Warri, the airline said Wednesday’s long wait was caused by aviation fuel scarcity which has hit several carriers in recent days.
“There has been jet A1 fuel (aviation fuel) scarcity in Lagos and Abuja for more than three days. All the New York passengers were informed of the situation before checking in. Fuelling is ongoing on the aircraft,” Banji Ola, Arik mouthpiece said on Thursday morning many hours after the plane was meant to have taken off on Wednesday night.
On Sunday Arik Air flight W34001 which was to take off at 8.15 a.m. in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, and land in Warri, Delta State, southsouth Nigeria, at 9.25 a.m. did not depart until 5.30 p.m. after the protests turned violent.
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.
On Wednesday night after passengers realised that they had spent the night at the Lagos airport, they began making calls to friends, relatives and journalists.
The flight finally left at about 10 a.m. on Thursday about 15 hours after it was supposed to have departed.
On Tuesday, some airlines blamed fuel scarcity for flight delays and even cancellation.
However, airline staff who spoke with our correspondent on Thursday on condition of anonymity said flights were taking off and landing as scheduled.
“People are travelling. Flights are taking off and landing. Maybe the problem is over,” an airline staff said.
Passengers have also decried incessant flight delays in recent days because of bad weather or operational inefficiency from the airlines.
Many Nigerian airlines delay passengers for hours and blame either weather or operational reasons for it.
The new aviation policy hopes to punish erring airlines that delay and cancel flights for hours for reasons other than safety.
—Simon Ateba