One of the passengers onboard Arik Air, who identified himself as Christopher, told SaharaReporters that the Arik flight from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja to the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos made air return to Abuja after barely few minutes in the air... Apart from Abuja, flights were also cancelled at Benin, Kaduna and Kano airports, among others.
Poor visibility at most Nigerian airports has led to air returns for most of the country's airlines.
The poor weather, it was gathered, had been on since last week, as most of the airlines either cancelled or delayed their flights.
The poor weather is becoming an issue in Nigeria once again despite the announcement by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in December 2017 that it had improved facilities at most airports from the initial minimal weather conditions to more acceptable standards.
Lagos and Abuja Airports were among the aerodromes whose minimal weather conditions were improved at the time by the regulatory agencies.
One of the passengers onboard Arik Air, who identified himself as Christopher, told SaharaReporters that the Arik flight from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja to the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos made air return to Abuja after barely few minutes in the air.
According to Christopher, the flight was at first delayed for more than two hours in Abuja due to the same bad weather, but when it eventually took to the air, the pilot announced an air return to base.
He said: "The poor weather is very serious and has paralysed activities at Abuja airport. We were on ground for hours and when we eventually took off, we had to return to base.
“As it is now, we don't know when we will leave the Abuja Airport again. The airline has promised to airlift us to Lagos when the weather improves.”
Apart from Abuja, flights were also cancelled at Benin, Kaduna and Kano airports, among others.