Chinedu Eze
Lagos to Uyo passengers on Air Peace flight were yesterday delayed for over six hours when a truck operated by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) rammed into and damaged the aircraft designated for the flight at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
According to the statement issued by the airline and made available to THISDAY, the incident occurred in the morning during the loading of passengers’ luggage into the cargo hold of the aircraft scheduled to service the carrier’s Lagos-Uyo route.
Spokesman of the airline, Mr. Chris Iwarah, said the door of the rear cargo hold of the aircraft was impacted and damaged in the incident.
The aircraft, it added, had been declared unserviceable and the airline’s Uyo-bound passengers, the statement said, were rescheduled to fly later in the day.
The airline said it deeply regretted the disruption of its Lagos-Uyo service and the delay the incident caused its passengers.
It promised that arrangements had been made to take the affected passengers to their destinations.
Air Peace said it was worried that the actions of NAHCO and other organisations were beginning to give it a negative image before members of the flying public despite its efforts to deepen its on-time reputation.
The incident yesterday, it said, affected almost eight of its flights across the country.
The Lagos airport incident thursday, the carrier alleged, was the third time NAHCO would be causing huge damage to its aircraft this year alone.
But NAHCO source said the incident was inadvertent and that it was due to the pressure mounted on the operator of the conveyor belt that made him engage a wrong gear that pushed the equipment to the aircraft.
Air Peace also confirmed that officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) were already investigating the incident at the Lagos airport yesterday.
