Chinelo Obogo
About five coomercial airlines Tuesday, cancelled flights to Lagos for October 20 and 21 after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, imposed a 24-hour curfew following protests allegedly hijacked by hoodlums turned violent in the state.
Following the governor’s announcement, Arik Air, Ibom Air, Azman Air, Africa World Airlines and Air Peace cancelled some of the flights coming in and out of Lagos on Tuesday, October 20 and Wednesday, October 21.
The management of Arik said all flights for both days have been cancelled and urged passengers to reschedule at no cost. “Arik Air has cancelled all flight operations for Wednesday, October 21, 2020, due to the 24-hours curfew announced by the Lagos State Government on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. All booked passengers on the cancelled flights are advised to reschedule their flights for later dates at no extra cost. The Lagos government announced a 24-hour curfew effective 4.000pm October 20, 2020,” Arik management said.
Similarly, Africa World Airlines released a statement asking passengers not to proceed to the airport as flights into Lagos have been cancelled. “Due to the 24-hour curfew imposed in Lagos from 1600 hours on Tuesday, October 20, we have cancelled flights AW222/AW223 on Tuesday, October 200 and AW208/AW211 on Wednesday, October 21. Passengers are urged not to proceed to the airport for these flights and contact us for rebooking/refund,” the airline said.
On its official social media handle, Azman Air said: “This is to inform all our Lagos bound passengers that all flights are hereby cancelled till further notice. This is due to the directive issued by the Lagos State government to impose a 24-hour curfew starting from Tuesday, October 2020. Passengers can reschedule at no extra costs,” while Air Peace issued a flight advisory notice saying, “This is to inform the general public that due to the newly imposed curfew in Lagos and Benin, we shall not be operating flights from these two locations till further notice. Our esteemed customers whose flights are disrupted by this new development can send a mail to us for possible reschedule.”