The flight, VL0209 (LGW), eventually took off from Lagos at 1:43 a.m. early Wednesday morning with some of the affected passengers while others were left behind in Nigeria.
After almost a week of uncertainty, the troubled Nigerian air carrier, Med-View Airline, finally flew its London-bound passengers out of Lagos on Wednesday morning.
The flight, which was originally scheduled to depart Murtala Muhammed International Airport at the country at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, was again delayed for almost five hours.
The flight, VL0209 (LGW), eventually took off from Lagos at 1:43 a.m. early Wednesday morning with some of the affected passengers while others were left behind in Nigeria.
A source close to the airline told our correspondent that the flight was delayed for almost five hours due to crew rest as recommended for the flight crew by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).
The source further revealed that the second batch of passengers who have been stranded in London since last Wednesday would arrive the country today, but as at the time of filing this report, it was not clear if they had departed from the UK to Nigeria.
On Tuesday morning, some abandoned passengers in London were flown into Lagos.
It would be recalled that Med-View Airline had delayed flights between Lagos and London, preventing hundreds of travelers from reaching their destinations.
The delays were caused by the airline’s failure to acquire a functional aircraft.
Its Boeing 747-200, which it deployed to the route last November, experienced technical difficulties, while its chartered aircraft, a Boeing 767, could not be certified for flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
No fewer than 800 passengers were affected by the disruption of the airline’s flight services.
The airline, in a statement by its media consultant, Oyibotha Obuke, had blamed the NCAA for the airline’s struggles.
