| Day stranded passengers
battled airport mosquitoes
By UCHE USIM
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
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What sort of country is this?
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To abort Europe-bound flights was a most unexpected decision
and little wonder it came as a shock to Nigerians. November
5, 2005 will, indeed, remain a day travelling public will
not forget in a hurry.
A lot of people had bought their tickets and were ready to
move. Some had even commenced check-in procedures.They had
bade their loved ones, who saw them off to the airport, goodbye.
And pronto! the flights were aborted.
What was heard was "sorry, the British Airways flight
to London Heathrow has been cancelled because of the potholes
on the runway as it impedes safety."
Bad enough, this was happening barely one week after the domestic
and only functional runway (18L) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Lagos was closed for some hours to effect "minor"
repairs. Yet, the same ugly incident repeated itself that
fateful Friday evening.
Even more painful was that the same foreign carriers, viz-
British Airways, KLM, Air France, Alitalia, Lufthansa and
others were the people who spotted the potholes on landing
and within minutes, the situation report was communicated
to their headquarters. Before anyone could say Jack Robinson,
the airlines met and jointly agreed that no flight should
leave Nigeria until the craters were covered. As such, all
the flights were aborted and forcing them to do an unplanned
night-stop in Lagos.
Few airlines took care of some of their passengers, especially
those in first class, while a host of others were abandoned
to their fate.
On that ground, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN), the parastatal saddled with maintaining the runways,
had to close the airport the following day, between 12 noon
and 1p.m and on Sunday between 7a.m-4 p.m.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the British Airways management,
a man who preferred anonymity, said the passengers were on
the verge of boarding the aircraft at about midnight on Friday
when the announcement came that the flight had been cancelled.
"Indeed, I was devastated because that cancellation will
cost me a lot as I have to forfeit my seat as a transit passenger.
My grouse against British Airway’s action is that they
had no courtesy to even communicate with us. They just abandoned
us to our fate. It was most regrettable because they can’t
try it abroad. Is it because we’re in Nigeria? They
did not even bother to take us to a hotel on the foolish reason
that the hotel cannot take everyone. I slept at the airport
with all the mosquitoes till 6 a.m on Saturday," he lamented,
adding that there was no one to attend to the passengers as
at 1:45p.m on Saturday afternoon.
Describing the pothole-ridden runway as dangerous, a KLM official,
Mr James Egbuchue, said the airline had cancelled all flights
slated for Saturday till all the Friday passengers were airlifted.
He pointed out that the airline had to abort the Friday night
flight for safety reasons, revealing that some African carriers,
took off to their respective destinations mindless of the
potholes.
On how the passengers were taken care of in terms accommodation,
Egbuchue said only a few of the passengers, arguably the first
class group, were given hotel accommodation since the number
of stranded passengers by far outnumbered the hotel rooms
reserved.
"Although the passengers suffered a lot of inconveniences,
they still appreciated the safety step we took", he said.
A woman, who believed her husband had long reached Frankfurt,
Germany on Lufthansa airline, had her hopes dashed when the
man called her about 4:00 a.m on Saturday morning to say that
he was still at the airport stranded and worn out. "I
fell sick immediately because I know his programme would be
disrupted. But this is unfair. When we’ll have our runways
in good condition? What is the government doing? This government
is sick. Nothing is working. I won’t say my name because
you cannot trust the government," she wept.
However, it is worthy of mention that the European carriers
might have lost several millions of dollars owing to the cancelled
flights as it affected other routes such flights would have
connected.
According to the general manager, public affairs, Mr Adeniyi
Ajakaiye, after the repairs, all aircraft (local and foreign)
using the runway have been advised not to exceed an all-up
weight of 230 tons.
"Any aircraft above that weight should use the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja or the Port Harcourt
International Airport till further notice. Notice to Airmen
(NOTAM) has already been issued to that effect," he said.
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