By Chinelo Obogo
An Abuja bound British Airways flight was on Tuesday morning forced to divert to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, following bad weather condition.
The diversion happened around 5am when the aircraft was making its descent to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
As the weather changed, the captain decided to land the plane in Lagos rather than risk flying to Abuja.
However, the passengers could not be flown back to Abuja because of crew time that had elapsed, forcing the airline to accommodate the passengers in a nearby hotel pending when they would be airlifted to Abuja.
Aviation regulations permit flight diversions whenever the flight crew feels there is a need to do so, to save passengers and aircraft.
Flight crew are also trained to take precautionary measures during flight operations.
Meanwhile, passengers in Abuja booked for 8am flight back to London were stranded after the situation has been communicated to the passengers.
The Regional Commercial Manager Nigeria and Ghana at British Airways, Adetutu Otuyalo, confirmed the situation and attributed the diversion to bad weather.
She said that the inability to airlift the passengers to their destination after weather became good to land much later to crew time which had elapsed, adding that British Airways takes safety seriously in line with their standard operating practice.