*The Airline Operators of Nigeria warns travellers that airport vicinity is a sensitive and sacrosanct environment where people should not be allowed to behave in a callous and uncontrollable manner

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Sequel to the latest incident, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has urged the Federal Government to improve security at the country鈥檚 airports and ensure that the lives of airline staff and their property are lawfully protected.

绿帽献妻 reports Alhaji (Dr.) Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, President of AON, said this in a statement issued Friday, April 15, 2022, while condemning the attack on some staff of Max Air, in Abuja, FCT.

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, FCT

Alhaji Sarina lamented that some unruly passengers, who assaulted the aviation workers due to a flight delay, also destroyed some of the airline鈥檚 property in the process.

The AON President noted that this development further has heightened the aviation union鈥檚 concern and worry over the increasingly deplorable state of security and the rising threat to the lives of airline staff and their property at the country鈥檚 airports.

Sarina also described the airport vicinity as a sensitive and sacrosanct environment where people should not be allowed to behave in a callous and uncontrollable manner.

According to the AON Chief, a situation where passengers are allowed to have access into sensitive, restricted areas of the airport and attack airline staff or prevent a plane from departing to other destinations because a particular flight is delayed or cancelled puts the country in a bad light in the international community.

According to him, issues of delay or cancellation could be addressed in a civil manner without resorting to violence.

Major causes of flight delays

Sarina further stated: 鈥淚n Nigeria, 80% of the causes of delays and cancellations are due to factors that are not under the control of airlines.

鈥淎irlines operating in Nigeria are forced to operate in an environment that is wrought with infrastructure deficiencies that are highly disruptive to normal schedule reliability and on-time performance.鈥�

He also said: 鈥淪ome of the more prevalent causes of delays and cancellations include unavailability and rising cost of Jet A-1 (which today costs above N585 per litre in Lagos, N607 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and N685 in Kano), inadequate parking space for aircraft on the apron sometimes leading to ground accidents, inadequate screening and exit points at departure, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, natural and unforeseen circumstances such as weather and catastrophic failures (e.g. bird strikes & component failures), and restrictions caused by sunset airports among others.

Sarina as well stated that the unruly passengers that went after Max Air and destroyed its computer reservation systems further worsened the problem for other air passengers going to other destinations.

He specifically noted the resort to violence because a particular flight is delayed or cancelled puts the country in a bad light in the international community.

AON understood the frustrations whenever a flight was delayed or cancelled and apologised to passengers on behalf of airlines for such delays or cancellations.

However, he stated that delays happen worldwide and there were conditions responsible for such incidents.

Sarina, therefore, warned that should there be a reoccurrence like that of Max Air, the union might be forced to have a rethink on how to respond in such circumstances.

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