Hundreds of New York, U.S-bound intending passengers on Arik Air at the weekend protested at the Muritala Mohammed Airport, Lagos over the failure of the airline to airlift them after two days of wait.
This the second time this year, the operations of the airlines has been disrupted by aggrieved passengers: the first being in late January when stranded passengers, who were scheduled to travel to Ibadan by Arik, blocked the boarding gate of the airport and did not allow Arik and other airlines to board passengers to other destinations.
Intending travellers who were stranded at the airport since Friday, April 17 had to resort to violent protests, invading the tarmac and disrupting a scheduled Lagos-Accra flight of Arik Air early on Saturday.
Mr Ola Adebanji, spokesman of Arik Air told reporters that the issue had been resolved and that the Accra-bound aircraft later made the trip.
Adebanji explained that the U.S.-bound passengers could not depart as scheduled, due to malfunctioning of the browser, fuelling the aircraft.
He assured that the passengers would make their trip immediately the problem was fixed.
One of the stranded travellers, who identified herself simply as Tolu lamented her inability to make the trip on schedule.
She said that the management of Arik Air had kept them in the dark on the inability of the plane to depart on schedule.
Tolu said that the passengers were abandoned, instead of being lodged in a hotel and that they had no means to get in touch with their families.
She claimed that they were only given snacks and a bottle of water since Friday morning.
Another passenger, who also declined to mention his name, described the handling of the passengers by the airline as poor.
According to him, Arik Air has persistently abandoned intending passengers without tangible excuses while “the industry regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) often looks the other way.”
He vowed to challenge the latest development in court.
Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, director of Consumer Protection, of the NCAA, said that the duty of NCAA on passenger processing stopped at the boarding gate where Aviation Security takes over from.
Adamu, however, promised to investigate the matter, especially the non-protection of passengers who were supposed to be taken to hotel and offered amenities.