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Topic: Foreign Travellers Stranded As Airlines Refuse to Fly

Ochiwar
Senior Advocate
Advocate # 895

Advocate Rated:

posted

Foreign Travellers Stranded As Airlines Refuse to Fly
BA, Air France, others boycott worsening runway
By Ndubuisi Francis, 11.05.2005

Lagos Airport

Passengers travelling outside the country got the shock of their lives Friday night and yesterday morning when foreign airlines operating in the country made good their threat to boycott the Murtala Muhammed Airp-ort, Lagos following the deteriorating state of the only functional runway (18L) which has in recent times been the nemesis of many an operator.
Under the aegis of Board of Airline Representatives (BAR), the foreign airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Emirates, Iberia, KLM and Alitalia, among others, last week threatened to boycott the Lagos airport following a spate of incidents and near crashes occasioned by an unwholesome runway.
But the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) apparantly respo-nding to the boycott, yesterday said the Murtala Mohammed Airport Run-way 18L was closed down between 12 noon and 1 pm yesterday and between 7 am and 4 pm local time today "to enable the Authority's engineers effect temporary and permanent repairs on the runway, respectively."
In a statement signed by FAAN's General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Adeniyi Ajakaiye, the organisation also explained that after the permanent repairs on the runway tomorrow "all aircraft using the runway must have an all-weight not exceeeding 230 tons."
He said: "Operators wishing to operate with aircraft exceeding an all-up weight of 230 tons should use the Nnamdi Azikiwe Interna-tional Airport, Abuja or the Port-Harcourt International Airport, until further notice."
THISDAY investigations however reveal that some of the airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Lufthansa and KLM begun Friday night to give practical expression to their threat.
For instance, a Lufthansa flight that was billed to depart the Lagos Airport at about 10:30pm Friday night to Frankfurt, Germany was cancelled. Passengers who had bought tickets for the flight to Frankfurt were disappointed on getting to the airport as they could not embark on their journey. They were thus stranded at the airport, feeling dejected and disappointed.
A British Airways flight which was also billed to depart for London Heart-hrow Airport last night was also cancelled just as Virgin Atlantic Airways stopped its flight billed for 10.30am yesterday morning.
THISDAY gathered that the foreign airlines whose patience had already run out over the sorry state of the only functional runway had the situation exacerbated by an incident involving a KLM airplane yesterday.
The airplane which reportedly arrived from Amsterdam ran into the bad spot on the runway which resulted in some damages on the aircraft.
The incident involving the KLM B777 aircraft was said to have led to a spontaneous reaction from the already aggrieved airlines who quickly decided to boycott operations in and out of the airport until the runway is effectively repaired.
A source from one of the foreign airlines told THISDAY on telephone yesterday afternoon that in line with what FAAN said that repair work on the runway has already begun, however revealed that when the repairs are completed, the foreign airlines would review and access the situation and see whether it is in their interest and those of their customers to resume operations.
Another source told THISDAY that BAR officials and those from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were meeting yesterday on how to resolve the differences arising from the controversy over the poor state of the runway.
It was not clear as at the time of filing this report how long it would take for repairs on the runway to be effected.
It is instructive that barely a month ago, it took a team of visiting International Air Transport Association (IATA) officials to discover the wear and tear on the same runway (18L) which has since the closure of the second runway (18R) last year been under severe pressure.
The runway which has served both international and local flights since over a year ago when the 18R has been undergoing a protracted rehabilitation accommodates between 200 and 250 take off and landings.
Although the Aviation Minister, Dr. Babalola Borishade had assured that the second runway would be re-opened last month this is yet to come to pass.
On July, 23, 2005, a Lufthansa aircraft from Frankfurt fell into a ditch in the only functional runway and was badly damaged. Before then, many other local and foreign carriers had met their waterloo on the runway.
The closure of the runway for repairs yesterday is already taking its toll on both domestic and foreign airlines with passengers being stranded.© Copyright 2000-2005 Leaders & Company Limited

___________________
Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum.

Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Nwa Aro
Senior Advocate
Advocate # 27

posted

Normalcy is finally returning. Flights have started taking off and landing at the airport..

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Flights Resume at Lagos Airport
By Ndubuisi Francis, 11.07.2005

Normal flights resumed at 5.20pm yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos with a Space World plane taking off to Port Harcourt. About two minutes later, a Bellview plane landed from Abuja.
The airport was closed to traffic between 7am and 4pm yesterday following the decision of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to effect temporary and permanent repairs on runway 18L.
Foreign airlines had weekend boycotted the airport in protest against the poor state of the runway, the only functional one since the closure of runway 18R last year. Hundreds of passengers were therefore stranded at the airport.
However, with the reopening of the airport some of the foreign airlines were also billed to resume operations last night. For instance, Lufthansa was scheduled to depart for Frankfurt at about 11pm.
Meanwhile the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has directed airline operators to hand over to the police for prosecution any passenger who contravenes the new procedure of matching tickets with identification cards.
Mr Sam Adurogboye, media assistant to the NCAA director general, in a statement at the weekend said the directive was contained in a letter addressed to all the airlines' chief executives.
The move was to ensure that no one travelled with another person's ticket henceforth, he said.
He said that the authority had also instructed its inspectors to ensure strict compliance with the directive.
According to him, "the practice not only violates the conditions of carriage but makes settlement of claims impossible in the event of air mishap".
The NCAA action may have been a fallout of the October 22 Bellview crash in which the names of some of the 117 passengers who died were not on the manifest.
Adurogboye said the NCAA had summoned all chief executives of airlines operating in the country for a crucial stock-taking meeting, to be presided over by the NCAA director general, Mr Fidelis Onyeyiri.

The meeting would review activities in the aviation sub-sector, he added.
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Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001 | IP: Logged

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