Passengers were left stranded for the second day on Saturday at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano as poor weather conditions forced airline operators to cancel scheduled flights in and out of the city.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the affected routes were the Abuja and Lagos-bound flights mainly operated by Azman, Arik and Med-View.
Airline operators announced the flight cancellations following weather advisory from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
Wale Dauda, a passenger who was booked to travel on Azman Airline, lamented that the airline didn’t send any text message or email informing passengers on the situation on ground.
Dauda said: “My flight with Azman was for noon on Friday to Lagos.
“It was later rescheduled from 4pm to 8pm..
“Later on, was rescheduled to 10pm.
“As you can see, I am still here this morning waiting.
“Even when other airlines canceled their flight, Azman kept giving passengers hope that the weather is being monitored and it would get better.
“They made us sleep at the airport, except for passengers who voluntarily requested for their luggage and left.
“There should be a policy guiding the airlines in situations like this to compensate the passengers, not just leaving them stranded.”
Ruth Ogala, a Med-View passenger to Lagos, said since Thursday, Kano has been experiencing bad weather condition, stating that just a flight came into Kano on that day at night.
Ogala said passengers should have been notified early enough to enable them use other means of transportation to their destination.
According to her, passengers from Lagos and Abuja to Kano were also stranded because flight couldn’t come in and out of Kano, making it difficult for so many Nigerians.
Another Azman Airline passenger, Joel Abraham, decried the poor service rendered by the airline, stating that the way the situation was handled led to passenger sleeping at the airport.
Abraham said in spite of the cancellation announcement made by Arik and Med-View, Azman kept giving passengers hope that the flight would leave Kano even at midnight.
He said: “Other airline operators announced their flight cancellations following weather advisory from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency but Azman did not cancel their flight.
“They kept on selling tickets even at night, giving passengers hope that even at midnight they can still fly, which led to passengers sleeping at the airport.
“They have not sent text messages to passengers informing them of the cancellation till now.
“The government needs to come in to set a standard for these operators.”
Abraham, however said standards should be set by government for airline operators in Nigeria for better service delivery.
An official of Azman airline, who did not want his name mentioned, said they were unable to send out messages on the flight cancellations due to bad network.
The official said the airline did not announce the cancellation of flight because they were hopeful that the weather condition will get clearer and they can still fly.
He said that passengers would likely experience delays in flight or cancellation this December due to bad weather conditions.
NAN.
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