… Insists airlines rules superior to Nigerian laws
Implementation of the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria directed by Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo met its first resistance today at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos when officials of an American carrier, Delta Airlines flouted the federal government’s executive order.
Delta insisted that its Nigerian passengers should be physically examined before allowed boarding
The disrecpect for the presidential order on the part of the American carrier almost resulted into physical fight when the officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Aviation Security (FAAN – AVSEC) attempted to remove the security desks from the check in counters of the airline.
However the quick intervention of the Airport Manager, Mr. Nehemiah Auta who invited the personnel of the two warring organizations to his office for amicable settlement stop the likely bloodletting that would have resulted from the fracas..
African Business Travel News (ABTN learnt that the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), led by its managing director, Mr. Saleh Dunoma had directed security agencies to remove their screening tables from the airlines’ counters.
While the security agencies reluctantly complied with the order, Delta Air Lines insisted that the luggage of its passengers must be check-in manually
The US based airline threatened that without the manual screening of passengers, it would stop the passengers from boarding the flight.
It would be recalled that Dunoma had earlier in the day held a meeting with some of his management staff where he informed them of the plans to fully implement the federal government’s executive order.
Airport sources informed ABTN that the airline officials had vehemently resisted the removal of the tables by its check-in counters by Aviation Security (AVSEC), insisting that it would not allow the implementation of the executive order.
“They were almost exchanging blows when the airport manager intervened and called the two parties to a meeting in his office.
“The airline insisted that its staff must manually carry out the screening of passengers after a machine has screened their luggage at the entrance of the terminal.
“They said that was the order they received from their home country. They even threatened to stop processing of Nigerian passengers if the agency did not allow them to manually screen the passengers,” said the source.
In a telephone interview, the spokesman for FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu said the airline’s officials and FAAN’s aviation security personnel were having a meeting on the issue.
As at the time of filing this report, the two sides are yet to agree on positive way forward to resolve the issue.
