The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has condemned the recent attack on staff of Max Air by some passengers, calling on the Federal government to beef up security at the nation’s airports.
In a statement issued in Abuja on friday and signed by AON President, Abdulmunaf Sarina, regretted that some unruly passengers, who assaulted the aviation workers due to a flight delay, also destroyed some of the airline’s properties.
He said the unfortunate development has further heightened the union’s concern and worry over the increasingly deplorable state of security and the rising threat to the lives of airline staff and their properties at Nigerian airports.
He described the airport vicinity as a sensitive and sacrosanct environment where people are not allowed to behave in a callous and uncontrollable manner.
He said a situation where passengers are allowed to have access into sensitive restricted areas of the airport and attack airline staff or prevent a plane from departing to other destinations because a particular flight is delayed or cancelled puts the country in a bad light in the international community.
He stressed that issues of delay or cancellation could be addressed in a civil manner without resorting to violence.
Sarina pointed out that the unruly passengers that went after Max Air officials and destroyed the computer reservation systems further exacerbated the problem for other passengers going to other destinations.
He said AON understands the frustrations whenever a flight was delayed or cancelled and apologised to passengers on behalf of airlines for such delays or cancellations.
The AON president, however, stated that delays happen worldwide and there were conditions responsible for such incidents.
“In Nigeria, 80% of the causes of delays and cancellations are due to factors that are not under the control of airlines. Airlines operating in Nigeria are forced to operate in an environment that is wrought with infrastructure deficiencies that are highly disruptive to normal schedule reliability and on-time performance.
“Some of the more prevalent causes of delays and cancellations include unavailability and rising cost of Jet A1 (which today costs above N585 per litre in Lagos, N607 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and N685 in Kano), inadequate parking space for aircraft on the apron sometimes leading to ground accidents, inadequate screening and exit points at departure, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, natural and unforeseen circumstances such as weather and catastrophic failures (e.g. bird strikes & component failures), and restrictions caused by sunset airports among others”, he explained.
He appealed to passengers to express some restraint in expressing their displeasures or frustrations during flight delays or cancellation.
“This is because the airline, within the prevailing circumstances could be complying with a safety procedure, obeying a regulation or facing certain difficulties beyond its immediate control”, he said.
He warned that should there be a reoccurrence like that of Max Air, the union might be forced to have a rethink on how to respond in such circumstances.
“May we state also, that should a similar occurrence like the unfortunate case with Max Air happen to any of our member airlines going forward, AON may be forced to have a rethink on how to respond in such circumstances”.
