the scarcity of aviation fuel affecting
the aviation industry grew worse on Monday as many air travellers across
the country endured varying degrees of hardship due to flight
cancellations.
From airport terminals in Lagos, Abuja,
Enugu, Warri, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Asaba and in the North, our
correspondent gathered that virtually all the airlines cancelled one or
more flights on Monday due to the unavailability of Jet-A1.
Some of the airlines, which were due to
operate two or more flights to some destinations, cancelled the early
flights and merged all into one flight for the day.
The rescheduled flights later took off in the evening, while many spill over passengers were left unattended.
The result was that many passengers had
to wait for several hours at the terminals for boarding to be announced,
only to be told much later in the day that their flights had been
cancelled.
At the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal
2, our correspondent observed that passengers who booked Aero
Contractors, Dana Air and Azman Airline flights were the most affected.
At about 6.00pm, none of the three
airlines had operated any flight out of the terminal for the day. Azman
Airline only announced boarding for its Kano flight at about 6.30pm.
There were several announcements of delays and rescheduling “due to unavailability of aviation fuel.”
Specifically, a Dana flight that was
scheduled to depart for Uyo by 9am was initially rescheduled to 1.25pm
before its cancellation was announced at about 4pm.
Yet, another Dana flight scheduled to
depart for Abuja by 11am was rescheduled to 1.25pm. Boarding did not
start until 4.30pm. Interestingly, at about 6.15pm, another delay of 45
minutes was announced for the same flight.
However, while First Nation and Medview
Airlines also cancelled some flights to other destinations, they both
managed one flight each out of the MMA2 to Abuja at about 6pm.
When our correspondent visited the
General Aviation Terminal of the domestic wing of Lagos airport at about
4.45pm, hordes of passengers were seen waiting anxiously for their
boarding announcements.
Arik Air, which operated most of its flights, had long queues of desperate passengers.
While observing the situation, Air Peace
announced the cancellation of five flights to Port Harcourt, Abuja,
Owerri, Enugu and another one to Abuja, all at the same time.
One of the affected passengers, who gave
his name simply as Obi, lamented the colossal loss the flight
cancellations meant to him.
“I am due in Abuja to seal a
multi-million naira business deal with my foreign partners. And they are
to depart tomorrow,” he said.
A customer service official of Air Peace
told our correspondent that the situation was beyond the control of the
airline, adding, “We just cannot help the situation.”
The situation was not different in
Abuja. An intending passenger of Dana Air, who was to fly to Lagos, had
his morning flight reschedule to 22.15hrs.
Speaking on the situation, a top
official of one of the airlines, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the government needed to intervene as quickly as possible in order
to ensure that the airlines got supplies of aviation fuel.
He opined that if this was not done, the attendant effect on businesses would be too huge for the Nigerian economy.
Arik Air later alerted its passengers to
the severity of the scarcity of aviation fuel and how the situation was
affecting its operations.
In a statement by its Communications
Manager, Adebanji Ola, the airline noted that the scarcity, which has
been on and off in the past few weeks, had reached an alarming
proportion as oil marketers were finding it difficult to cope with the
requirements of the carrier.
According to the statement, the scarcity
is pronounced in the Lagos and Abuja hubs, where a number of flights
had to be delayed, while awaiting supply of fuel, and some cancelled due
to untimely delivery by marketers.
Ola added, “Due to the inability of oil
marketers to meet our daily fuel requirements, because of the number of
local, regional and international flights we operate, our operations are
most impacted and passengers inconvenienced.
“We, therefore, appeal for the
understanding of our guests as all stakeholders continue to find a
lasting solution to the problem.”
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