According to Premium Times, stranded passengers, who were scheduled to travel to Ibadan by Arik Air
yesterday, but were left stranded for hours by the airline shut down operations
at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, last night.
The aggrieved passengers blocked the boarding gate of the airport and
did not allow Arik and other airlines to board passengers to other
destinations.
One of the stranded passengers, Saka
Waheed, a civil society activist, told Premium Times at about 9:30 P.M that the
aborted flight was originally schedule for 3.25pm.
“Later, they came to tell us it had been changed to 4p.m. By 4 o’clock,
they said flight would be 7pm. When it was 7, we were directed to enter a bus
to take us to the tarmac so that we could board the plane and leave for Ibadan.
“Although we entered the bus, yet the driver later told us to get down.
In short, that was the point we were told the flight had been cancelled, after
we had spent over four hours at the airport,” Mr. Waheed said.
He said they could not also assess their luggage, which had already been
checked in.
He complained that neither airport officials nor Arik Air staff offered
them any explanation on why the flight was cancelled and how to get their
luggage.
“Because of that treatment, we are not allowing anybody to travel out of
Abuja until either airport officials or Arik officials come to address us,” Mr.
Waheed said.
Also complaining, another passenger, Tope Oladele, said, “Well, as you
can see; these people are very barbaric. They are treating us like animals.
Nobody has come to explain what happened. They have left us stranded.”
Both Messrs Waheed and Oladele said there was no official at the Arik stand
to attend to passengers’ complaints.
Officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria [FAAN] as well as
Arik Air’s spokesperson could not be reached for comments as at the time of
filing this report at 9:57 P.M.
Passengers said Arik is notorious for arbitrary flight postponement and
cancellation and that they are disappointed that aviation authorities have so
far failed to call the airline to order.
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