Management of one of the leading flag carriers in Nigeria, Med-View Airway Plc has appealed to its passengers whose flights have been affected by the recent cancellations of its flight operations at Gatwick airport, London to bear with it.
The airline in a statement, signed by its Chief Operating Officer Michael Ajigbotosho, said it was caused by a decision to adhere to safety measures in line with aviation standard and recommended practice.
Ajigbotosho explained that the airline had no option than to follow the decision of the pilot in command to return the flight to its source in London for safety reason.
According to him, “Our flight VL 2101 out of London to Lagos on Friday December, 22 which has about 300 passengers on board returned back to Gatwick after departure as a precautionary measure taken by the Pilot- in – Command (PiC) in line with Aviation Standard and Recommended Practices.”
He said, “This led to cancellation of the flight as the aircraft was declared AOG (Aircraft On Ground). The passengers were catered for, they were lodged in a hotel and those who decided to go back home were also taken care of.
“After the aircraft was declared AOG, we had to wait for a maintenance report. The aircraft had to remain on ground until a certified expert carried out the necessary checks and certified that the aircraft was airworthy”.
Noting that the problem was compounded by the holiday, the Chief Operating Officer, however said while management was working tirelessly to ameliorate the sufferings of the affected passengers some of them went unruly which caused further delay before the intervention of British security agency restored normalcy.
“In line with that confirmation, we decided to seek for a relief flight and tried as much as possible go get the approval from both the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Nigeria and the CAA of United Kingdom in Gatwick. We attest to their full cooperation and we appreciate them.
“We announced to operate three flights feeling the concern of all our passengers. On Wednesday December 27, we positioned three aircraft after securing the approval of the CAA including Nigerian authority.
“Disappointingly, due to the unruly behaviour of some Nigerian passengers, the Border Force had to intervene to support the operations for crowd control purposes.
“These three aeroplanes would have evacuated 700 passengers which would have normalized the situation. But the passengers neither understood or knew the challenges ahead which resorted into having a delayed operation and crew rest and we ended up operating two flights out of three.
“We use this medium to appeal to our Nigerian customers. As much as we appreciate their patronage and apologize for the experience they went through this Christmas, we seek for their understanding to know that their safety comes first before any other thing.
“We feel their concern and the expectations of meeting their families for the Christmas Holiday,”.
The airline however pledged that normal flights resume on Friday for London, Dubai and Jeddah.
