Faulty aircraft: Angry passengers stop Arik planes from flying

Arik boss, Sir Arumemi Johnson

It was a very shameful sight to behold as Arik Air passengers numbering over 100 and officials of the airline threw caution to the wind and nearly threw punches.

The angry passengers SHOWBIZPLUSng gathered were billed to travel to Port Harcourt from Abuja yesterday afternoon, but were delayed when they refused to board the faulty aircraft provided by the airline after it went through maintenance check and was certified airworthy by the engineers from Lufthansa Technic, the technical partners of the airline.

We further learnt that the passengers said they would not board the aircraft, unless another aircraft was provided, insisting that the aircraft had a history of malfunction.

A very rude and unfriendly Arik Air management was reported to have told the passengers that if they would not board the available aircraft they had to wait for the 6.00 pm flight scheduled for Port Harcourt from the Federal Capital Territory. The statement further irked the passengers.

Not satisfied with Arik Air’s given condition, the passengers were said to have become unruly and started disrupting the boarding process of the airline, as other passengers travelling to different destinations attempted to board their flights.

Efforts to calm the passengers failed, even when a senior military official came and begged them to stop their violent activities; they still refused to calm down.

Spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) in Abuja, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, who confirmed the incident, denied that passengers grounded the aircraft but said their activities disrupted the operations of the airline, as they protested “the delay in the take-off of the Port Harcourt flight from Abuja.”

Deputy Managing Director and Head of Flight Operations of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, said that when the pilot of the flight discovered that the aircraft has an “indication problem” he decided that he would not fly the plane until the problem was rectified. Arik management therefore brought in an engineer from Lufthansa Technical who rectified the problem and certified the aircraft air worthy.

“We asked the passengers to board the flight so that we would take them to Port Harcourt but they refused, insisting that we must change the aircraft. Then we told them to wait for our 6:00 pm flight, they refused and became disruptive. What they did is enough to earn them prison sentence in other parts of the world because it is an unlawful for passengers to detain an aircraft,” Sanusi said.

It was a very shameful sight to behold as Arik Air passengers numbering over 100 and officials of the airline threw caution to the wind and nearly threw punches.

The angry passengers SHOWBIZPLUSng gathered were billed to travel to Port Harcourt from Abuja yesterday afternoon, but were delayed when they refused to board the faulty aircraft provided by the airline after it went through maintenance check and was certified airworthy by the engineers from Lufthansa Technic, the technical partners of the airline.

We further learnt that the passengers said they would not board the aircraft, unless another aircraft was provided, insisting that the aircraft had a history of malfunction.

A very rude and unfriendly Arik Air management was reported to have told the passengers that if they would not board the available aircraft they had to wait for the 6.00 pm flight scheduled for Port Harcourt from the Federal Capital Territory. The statement further irked the passengers.

Not satisfied with Arik Air’s given condition, the passengers were said to have become unruly and started disrupting the boarding process of the airline, as other passengers travelling to different destinations attempted to board their flights.

Efforts to calm the passengers failed, even when a senior military official came and begged them to stop their violent activities; they still refused to calm down.

Spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) in Abuja, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, who confirmed the incident, denied that passengers grounded the aircraft but said their activities disrupted the operations of the airline, as they protested “the delay in the take-off of the Port Harcourt flight from Abuja.”

Deputy Managing Director and Head of Flight Operations of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, said that when the pilot of the flight discovered that the aircraft has an “indication problem” he decided that he would not fly the plane until the problem was rectified. Arik management therefore brought in an engineer from Lufthansa Technical who rectified the problem and certified the aircraft air worthy.

“We asked the passengers to board the flight so that we would take them to Port Harcourt but they refused, insisting that we must change the aircraft. Then we told them to wait for our 6:00 pm flight, they refused and became disruptive. What they did is enough to earn them prison sentence in other parts of the world because it is an unlawful for passengers to detain an aircraft,” Sanusi said.