Aggrieved passengers cripple Air Peace operations in Lagos, Abuja, Calabar

Recall that On Thursday, the winglet of one of Airpeace aircraft, which was being towed within the very limited space at the ramp of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos to position for departure, had a partial contact with the stabilizer of another of their aircraft. Subsequently the two aircraft were declared unserviceable in line with the FAAN high safety standards. But the passengers did not have any chill at all.



It was reported that  some unruly passengers took the law into their own hands, preventing passengers from boarding and making it impossible for  aircraft to fly.

According to the statement, in Abuja, a former top government official, whose flight returned to Abuja when it could not land in Enugu due to the closure of the airport at 7pm, refused to disembark and incited others to join him in doing so.

The airline said the aircraft was eventually detained overnight in Abuja.

“The action of the former federal lawmaker and other unruly passengers in our different stations worsened the already difficult schedule we were making effort to save,” it said.

“Some flights we were prepared to operate despite the challenge we were facing, were eventually cancelled.

The airline said that the aircraft involved in the Benin incident was scheduled to do seven sectors, including the Abuja-Benin service.

It said: “Given the development, we had no choice than to cancel our Abuja-Benin service and asked those who were willing to reschedule for Saturday to do so, while others should be immediately refunded.”

“Some passengers, who were to fly with us from Abuja to Benin, however, went violent. They attacked our staff in Abuja and almost killed our duty manager.

It took the intervention of Air Force personnel, who were reportedly called in by the airport authorities, to rescue our duty manager from the mob.