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Poor Weather Forces Delta Air Lines To Abandon US-Bound Nigerian Passengers In Lagos

The airline, which was supposed to airlift the passengers out of the airport to the US, could not, as it could not depart Atlanta, Georgia for Nigeria on Monday as a result of bad weather.

At least 250 Nigerian air travellers of Delta Air Lines to the United States and other cities were on Monday stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos due to poor weather.

The airline, which was supposed to airlift the passengers out of the airport to the US, could not, as it could not depart Atlanta, Georgia for Nigeria on Monday as a result of bad weather.

Apart from the Nigerian passengers who were to depart Lagos for the US, the airline’s passengers in Atlanta Georgia also suffered similar fate as they could not depart for Nigeria.

When SaharaReporters visited the international wing of the Lagos airport on Monday night, it discovered that the airline’s check-in counters were not open while none of its staff was available to attend to the few air travellers who had come to the airport with the hope of flying out of the country.

Some of the passengers spoken to by our correspondent claimed that they were not informed of the flight cancellation.

Mr. Ayodeji Fatai, passenger of the airline to Toronto, Canada, condemned the cancellation, explaining that he had come to Lagos from Ondo State for the flight.

He said: “I left Ondo State very early yesterday morning for this flight, only for me to get here and I was told the flight had been cancelled. I didn’t receive any text message or email notification about this cancellation.”

But our correspondent gathered that most of the passengers were sent emails and text messages to notify them of the cancellation.

As of early Tuesday morning, some of the stranded passengers were still seen at the airport, indicating that some of them spent the night at the airport.

As of the time of filing this report, it was unclear when the passengers would be airlifted out of Lagos to their various destinations.

Information gathered by our correspondent indicated that the weather in the US was still unfavourable to flight operations to Nigeria.

An email by our correspondent to Delta Air Lines office in the US was not responded to.

Alst Wednesday, British Airways could not airlift its Lagos-Heathrow passengers due to a mechanical fault to its Boeing 747 aircraft.

Some of its passengers, especially the business-class, passengers were booked into Sheraton Hotels and Suites, Lagos. 

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