NAN-H-42
Apology
By Adekunle Williams/Solomon Asowata
Lagos, Dec. 28, 2017 (NAN) Medview Airline has apologised to its Dubai and London bound passengers for any inconvenience caused by the cancellation of their flights.
Mr Michael Ajigbotosho, the airline Chief Operating Officer, made the apology in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the aggrieved passengers had on Thursday morning besieged the airline’s Check-In counter at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The passengers, both on the Dubai and Gatwick-London routes, had accused the airline of frustrating their trips for over three days and prevented them from spending the holidays with their families.
Ajigbotosho, while expressing the airline’s regret, said that the incident was caused by the cancellation of its London to Lagos flight on Dec. 22.
“Our flight VL 2101 out of London to Lagos on Dec. 22 which had about 300 passengers on board returned back to Gatwick after departure.
“This was a precautionary measure taken by the Pilot-in-Command (PiC) in line with the Aviation Standard and Recommended Practices.
“This led to cancellation of the flight as the aircraft was declared AOG (Aircraft On Ground).
“The passengers were catered for, they were lodged in a hotel and those who decided to go back home were also taken care of,” he said.
According to him, after the aircraft was declared AOG, the airline had to wait for a maintenance report and certification by expert after necessary checks.
Ajigbotosho said that this was further compounded by the holidays, thus the airline sought and got approval to operate a relief flight from both the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Nigeria and the CAA of United Kingdom in Gatwick.
He said: “We attest to their full cooperation and we appreciate them.
“We announced to operate three flights feeling the concern of all our passengers.
“On Dec. 27, we positioned three aircraft after securing the approval of the CAA including Nigerian authority.
“Disappointingly, due to the unruly behaviour of some Nigerian passengers, the Border Force had to intervene to support the operations for crowd control purposes.
“These three aeroplanes would have evacuated 700 passengers which would have normalised the situation.”
Ajigbotosho said that due to the situation, the airline was only able to operate two flights.
He said that it would have been different with more cooperation and understanding by the passengers.
“We use this medium to appeal to our Nigerian customers. We feel their concern and the expectations of meeting their families for the Christmas holiday.
“As much as we appreciate their patronage, we apologise for the experience they went through this Christmas.
“We seek for their understanding to know that their safety comes first before any other thing,’’ Ajigbotosho said. (NAN)
WAC/ASO/GOK
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Edited by Olagoke Olatoye