PASSENGERS DISRUPT ARIK OPERATIONS IN ABUJA

Arik Air passengers numbering over 100, who were billed to travel to Port Harcourt from Abuja yesterday afternoon, were delayed when they refused to board the aircraft provided by the airline after it went through maintenance check and was certified airworthy by the engineers from Lufthansa Technic, the technical partners of the airline.
THISDAY learnt that the passengers said they would not board the aircraft, unless another aircraft was provided, insisting that the aircraft had a history of malfunction.
Arik Air management was reported to have told the passengers that if they would not board the available aircraft they had to wait for the 6.00 pm flight scheduled for Port Harcourt from the Federal Capital Territory.
Not satisfied with Arik Air’s given condition, the passengers were said to have become unruly and started disrupting the boarding process of the airline, as other passengers travelling to different destinations attempted to board their flights.
Efforts to calm the passengers failed, even when a senior military official came and begged them to stop their violent activities; they still refused to calm down.
Spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) in Abuja, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, who confirmed the incident, denied that passengers grounded the aircraft but said their activities disrupted the operations of the airline, as they protested “the delay in the take-off of the Port Harcourt flight from Abuja.”
Deputy Managing Director and Head of Flight Operations of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, told THISDAY that when the pilot of the flight discovered that the aircraft has an “indication problem” he decided that he would not fly the plane until the problem was rectified. Arik management therefore brought in an engineer from Lufthansa Technic who rectified the problem and satisfied the aircraft air worthy.
“We asked the passengers to board the flight so that we would take them to Port Harcourt but they refused, insisting that we must change the aircraft. Then we told them to wait for our 6:00 pm flight, they refused and became disruptive. What they did is enough to earn them prison sentence in other parts of the world because it is an unlawful for passengers to detain an aircraft,” Sanusi said.
The General Manager, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Fan Ndubuoke, told THISDAY that it was not the place of passengers to determine the aircraft that would be used to airlift them.
Ndubuoke recalled the incident that happened last Wednesday when a passenger in Aero aircraft raised a false alarm, saying that there was fire in the aircraft; the pilot took precautionary measure and they de-boarded the passengers only to discover that it was smoke coming from a nearly generator that prompted the passenger to raise fire alarm.
The General Manager said it is the responsibility of the airline to declare its aircraft airworthy under the regulation and supervision of NCAA.
All aircraft in Arik Air fleet are Next Generation planes with average age of five years and according to NCAA, the airline carries out the highest level of aircraft maintenance with its partners, Lufthansa Technic.
Source: Thisday