THISDAY has learnt that about two weeks ago at Katoka International Airport, Accra, a flight due for another West African destination was delayed and the passengers billed for the flight became restive.
They started violent tantrums over the delay and the official in charge of security at the airport warned the passengers and told them unequivocally that the airport authority would not tolerate unruly behaviour from them.
“We do not condone such behaviour. If you want to riot in the airport, you cannot do it here. You go to Nigeria and do it. This is not Nigeria,” the official said.
And that was enough to calm the passengers who later were airlifted to their destination. Between December 2015 and early 2016, Turkish Airlines had issues of luggage delay. It was during the Yuletide and the Nigerian passengers had many bags they wanted to bring home.
At that period the regular aircraft, which the airline dedicated to the Abuja- Istanbul route was taken for maintenance so the airline brought small body aircraft that could not take both the passengers and their luggage. The airline therefore decided to bring the passengers to their destination in Abuja first before bringing in the luggage, which did not come with the passengers.
But on arrival the passengers disembarked and waited to collect their checked-in bags from the carousel but many of them did not get their bags. They became enraged and spontaneously ran to the tarmac, the airside and attempted to stop the Turkish Airlines aircraft from taking off.
That action undermined the security of the airport and the passengers accessing the sterile area of the airport in such chaotic manner negated and compromised international security regulation. In reaction to that incident, the federal government suspended the head of security at the airport and another official connected to the incident for alleged laxity.
Over the years Nigerian airports management has allowed passengers to ventilate their rage on airlines when their expectations are not met. While the airlines have their shortcomings, the airport management, including its security apparatus, usually stays out as spectators instead of making efforts to rein and curtail passengers’ outrage.
About two weeks before 2016 Christmas, Arik Air flew into bad weather with its London to Lagos passengers. The airline’s aircraft, Airbus A330-200, which operates Lagos-New York flight was damaged by ground handling company at the JFK International Airport, New York, so the airline deployed its aircraft that operates Lagos-London flights to that route and used smaller aircraft, Boeing B737-800 to London, which airlifted all the passengers but not with all their luggage. So there were short landed bags.
Although the airline claimed it informed the passengers before departure but on arrival when the passengers did not get their luggage they revolted against the airline and disrupted the airline’s flights, beat up the airline’s staff and destroyed its computers used to process and check in passengers. For the next few days, the airline was not allowed to operate its international flights and as Harmattan haze set in more flights were cancelled.
It was a similar incident with Medview Airline, growing Nigerian airline that also operates Lagos-London and other international destinations. When the airline was unable to bring all the passengers luggage in the same flight that airlifted them the passengers who arrived few days before all their bags arrived with other flights, revolted and molested the CEO of the airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole and other members of staff.
Bankole explained to the passengers in a meeting that the bags were dropped by the pilot in command of the flight in order to have appropriate weight for the aircraft to ensure safe flight operation.
Bankole, however, noted that the reason to reduce the luggage arose because many of the passengers, instead of checking in the airline’s approved maximum bags of 27 KG, decided to check in 34KG bags. He explained that the passengers had insisted that was what was written on the ticket, thus creating a situation for some of the bags to be removed from the flight.
THISDAY learnt that when flights are delayed or cancelled due to bad weather passengers usually protest against the airline. When there are technical problem and the airline delays or cancels flight for safety reasons, airlines are also blamed. But the airlines have their shortcomings. They do not keep the passengers abreast of events most of the time and they do not provide enough information to the passengers who are allowed to guess under anxiety until they become angry.
Industry observers blame the security operatives at the airports and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for their inability to manage the revolting passengers at any time, whether it is in domestic or international flights. One of the industry insiders also suggested that FAAN should ensure that the airlines announces to the passengers at intervals the sequences of preparations concerning their flights.
During the Turkish imbroglio with the invasion of the tarmac by the passengers, the Director of Consumer Protection Directorate of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Adamu Abdullahi, noted that while the airlines must do everything possible to ensure that they meet passengers’ expectations, passengers must also abide by the regulations that guide air transport and activities at the airports, noting that resorting to violence does not solve any problem.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman of Arik Air, Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide explained that passengers complicate problems when they disrupt airline’s activities because their demand are not met. He noted that the prerogative of every airline is to satisfy its passengers and when that objective is not met the airline usually makes correctional plan, which such disruptions disorganise, so it takes the airline longer time to solve your problem.”
However, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it has put plans in place to end the unruly behaviour of passengers at the airports. Spokesman of the agency, Sam Adurogboye who confirmed to THISDAY, said: “The official in charge of security section in the Authority has started deliberations on this. Such incidents must not be allowed again. In the interim, airlines must give adequate and truthful information promptly about their flights and challenges as they arise in order not to leave passengers in the dark and get them frustrated.”
Airlines have to note that passengers become angry when they literally build walls between them and their customers.
