11 Jan 2012


By Chinedu Eze


Over 500 passengers were stranded yesterday following the cancellation of flights by foreign airlines which were supposed to airlift them on Monday and Tuesday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The passengers who could not go back to town slept at the airport, using their bags as pillows and mattresses, uncertain about when their suffering would be over.

Following the notice to airmen (NOTAM) issued on Sunday by aviation unions, notifying foreign airlines about impending strikes, which started on Monday, some of the airlines, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, KLM and Lufthansa cancelled their flights, living their passengers stranded at the airport.

The abandoned passengers swelled when more airlines cancelled their flights yesterday and some of them which arrived the Lagos airport were not able to depart as aviation union officials prevented airlines’ crew from gaining access to the terminal building.

Some of the affected passengers were those who were billed to travel with Virgin Atlantic, Arik Air, which had South Africa bound flight, Ethiopian Airlines and Emirates Airline.

By 4.p.m. yesterday aircraft owned by these airlines were still parked at the international terminal of the Lagos airport, as their tails and livery signal that they were still in Nigeria beyond their departure time.

Some officials of the unions explained that they had to allow the airlines to land in cognisance of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulation.

The unions include the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Traffic Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).

At the international terminal of the Lagos airport, Comrade Abdulkareem Motajo, the acting Secretary–General, NUATE led other union leaders to foil efforts by the Ethiopian Airlines officials to board their passengers through the back door.

The union leaders also visited Qatar Airways office and sent away the passengers that were boarding there as well as the airline’s officials attending to them.

The unions had warned the foreign airlines not to endanger the lives of the innocent passengers by airlifting them when the air traffic controllers that were supposed to clear them before flying were on strike.

“The fact that we are delaying the flights does not mean that we are denying the passengers their rights to their flights which they could embark on when the strike is over,’’ Motajo said.

Distraught and angry with the action of the union officials, the passengers confronted them when the former came to the airlines’ offices to enforce the strike action, thus ventilating their frustration.

The passengers flooded the departure hall of the airport while complaining that the various airlines’ officials had failed to tell them what next would happen to them.
Some of the passengers who had spent hours waiting made their bed on the floor of the departure lounge, while children who could not hide their hunger and distress, wailed in varying tones as their parents were not sure what would happen next.

“We called some of the airlines on phone and they said we should report for our scheduled flights despite the industrial action,” said one of the anxious and worried passengers.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/passengers-stranded-as-foreign-airlines-cancel-flights/106878/

Does anyone know if the issue of flight cancellation has been resolved. My departure date is 14th, i am in Abuja now,please if you have any information about Lufthansa airline.