Pandemonium as Airline cancels flights over aviation fuel scarcity
• Passengers seize flight attendant, demand refund, other bills
By Paul Michael
There was uproar at Lagos Local Airport on Tuesday night following multiple cancellations of flights by Green Africa Airways due to the scarcity of Aviation fuel.
The Trumpet gathered that the airline had canceled Lagos – Enugu, and Lagos – Port Harcourt flights on Monday and rescheduled the same for Tuesday by 8:00 pm.
However, the airline was unable to secure aviation fuel for the rescheduled flights to take off the following day, thereby leading to another cancellation of the flights on Tuesday night.
The stranded passengers, who were delayed for 24 hours with the hope of embarking on their journey the following day, became angry over the disappointment of Green Africa Airways.
Consequently, they seized the flight attendant, Christian Ubiakor, demanding a refund as well as hotel accommodation and feeding bills that were incurred following the multiple cancellations.
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Ubiakor, while appealing to the raged passengers on behalf of Green Africa Airways, said he can only assure them of the refund of the booking fee. He asked them to put down their names to enable the company to process the refunds.
“You canceled flights multiple times without considering where the supposed passengers would sleep and eat. That apart, there is no assurance that there is an arrangement for our journey tomorrow. You need to make preparations to take us to Enugu tomorrow,” one of the angry passengers said.
“I am from Kigali. Legally, your company should be responsible for our accommodation and feeding. That is the position of the law,” another passenger said.
However, Babawande Afolabi, Founder & CEO of Green Africa Airways, said there was a caveat while stating that the airline cannot be held responsible for extra bills incurred over the canceled flights. He, however, appealed to them to put down their names for a refund of the booking cost and let go of the flight attendant who was held ransom.
Nigeria has been facing a fuel crisis since January 2022 after the Muhammadu Buhari government announced a supposed removal of subsidy in February 2022. Though the plan was later halted, scarcity of petroleum
products – Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Aviation fuel, diesel, and cooking gas – has continued unabated amid price increments and long queues.
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