Over a 120 London-bound passengers of Medview Airlines were on Sunday left stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos due to the airline inability to airlifts its passengers as scheduled
It was learnt that some of the passengers arrived the Lagos airport as early as 10 am in order to be checked-in for the 1 pm flight to London but could not do so, as officials of the airline were reportedly not on ground to handle the process while many of the travelers waited beyond 1 pm, others left the airport in annoyance.
Medview Airlines later confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mr. Obuke Oyibotha, explaining that the flight disruption was due to operational challenges. An official at the airport stated that the airline later brought buses to convey some of the stranded travelers to a hotel as stipulated by international aviation standards.
According to a source, the unavailability of operating aircraft to London may have led to the inability of the airline to airlift the passengers as scheduled. Also that the airline has a snag which necessitated the management to take it for a check.
The aircraft could not come back as expected, explaining that the airline went out to lease another airplane which the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA) could not perfect the documents that would have made the aircraft release possible.
The carrier had assured the passengers of efforts to airlift them, adding that it had reached out to the affected travelers and by 3 pm on Monday, the issue would have been resolved. “We are deeply sorry for all the inconveniences suffered by the affected passengers and everything possible within the standard and recommended practices in aviation is being done to airlift them,” Oyibotha said.
Oyibotha said Med-view Airline would not abandon its obligation to passengers, noting that safety comes first in all its operations.