After 48hrs US Flight Delay, Passengers Seize Arik Plane

Hundreds of New York-bound passengers on Arik Air flight at the weekend protested at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, over the failure of the airline to airlift them for two days. The aggrieved passengers invaded the tarmac of the airport, stopped the early morning Lagos- Accra passengers from boarding and protested in the open.
However, the airline’s spokesman, Mr. Ola Adebanji, said the issue had been resolved while the Accra- bound aircraft trapped in the protest had departed for its destination. One of the agencies’ workers at the terminal who spoke in confidence with Daily Times, said the Accra-bound passengers were boarding the aircraft through one of the toilet facilities of the airport, rather than the Avio Bridge. The aircraft was parked at the open bay and not attached to the Avio Bridge.
The source said that the passengers were taken through this facility because of the non-functionality of the Avio Bridge, saying that several of the bridges had collapsed for some time now. It was also gathered that the abandoned US-bound passengers, after gaining access to the tarmac, staged a protest in the nose and door of the aircraft, a situation, which led to the immediate closure of the aircraft’s door by Arik Staff while other Accra-bound passengers were still on the tarmac and unable to board the flight.
The US-bound passengers insisted that unless they were allowed to board, they would ensure that none of the regional and international flights of Arik operated out of the airport. One of the protesting passengers, who simply identified herself as Tolu, explained that she had hoped to travel to the US on Friday morning with the airline, but lamented that the management of Arik had kept them in the dark on why they were unable to travel as scheduled. Tolu alleged that despite the airline.s breach of agreement, the passengers were still abandoned, instead of lodging, feeding and giving them access to internet facilities and phone calls to their family members as stipulated by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). She further alleged that the abandoned passengers were only given snacks and a bottle of water since Friday morning when the flight was cancelled.
She said, “Up till now, we still don’t know why we were not conveyed by Arik Air. The only thing we know is that when the time for boarding process came, there was no sign that they were going to process us for flight. We kept asking them questions, but no one was willing to offer us any explanation. “We’ve been in this sordid situation since yesterday, but to our surprise, the airline was busy boarding Accra passengers who just arrived this morning. Some of the passengers felt it was injustice and had to protest. In fact, some of us have spent the entire money with us on food when Arik Air did not attend to our needs. Very few went back home while a host of others slept at the terminal.”
Another passenger who declined to mention his name described the handling of the passengers by the airline as “poor.” He vowed to sue the airline. But Adebanji said on phone that the incident had been resolved by the management, adding that the US-bound passengers could not depart as earlier scheduled due to the malfunction of the fuel bowser. Adebanji said that the Accrabound passengers had since departed while the US-bound aircraft was still being fuelled. He gave assurance that the passengers would depart immediately the aircraft was fuelled. However, as at the time of filing this report, the US-bound passengers were still at the terminal. The protest lasted over two hours.