Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace, has explained the video making the rounds, where passengers were rushing to board one of its flights from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, saying that the passengers did not wait for boarding call but rushed into the aircraft.
The airline explained that bad weather occasioned by harmattan haze forced it to delay its flights from Abuja.
It however stated that it later deployed three aircraft to airlift the passengers.
The statement added that when one of the aircraft arrived, the passengers who had been waiting for about two hours could not wait for due process and boarding.
The statement, the airline said, overwhelmed the security officials who tried to retrain them and rushed to board the flight, thus crowding the aircraft boarding stairs, as captured by the video.
A statement from the airline, signed by its Head of Communications, Dr Ejike Ndiulo, said on the day in question, there were flight delays because of poor weather conditions, specifically harmattan-induced haze, and fog, “which is common at this time of the year, and to ensure that passengers continued their journeys with minimum disruptions, Air Peace deployed three aircraft to Abuja to evacuate all the passengers. While processing them for their flights at the boarding gate, passengers overwhelmed both the FAAN and boarding officers and rushed to the airside.
“Duty managers and ramp officials then had to mount barricades in front of the motorised step to differentiate passengers on flights,” the statement said.
“While we empathise with you, our loyal customer, we condemn in very strong terms the misinformation, insults, and deliberate falsehood disseminated in the video post,” the statement added.
Air Peace said such representations (in the video) are not reflective of its values or operations.
“We appreciate your understanding and patience during this period and sincerely regret any inconvenience these delays may have caused you. The safety of our passengers and crew is our utmost priority.
“At Air Peace, safety is not just a priority but a fundamental precondition for all our activities. We remain committed to maintaining safe and timely operations,” the statement added.
Chinedu Eze
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