An unruly passenger last Wednesday single-handedly disrupted Ibom Air flight operations scheduled to depart Uyo for Abuja International Airport at 1730hrs and prevented its takeoff.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Michael Achimugu, in a post on his X handle on Sunday, said the actions of the irate passenger resulted in the cancellation of the flight.
He said the actions of the passenger, who is currently being prosecuted by the authority, caused 89 other passengers on board to lose valuable time, money, and opportunities, and also made Ibom Air lose millions of naira plus a serious scheduling conundrum.
Narrating the incident, Achimugu said, “All passengers had been informed during check-in that, due to weight restrictions, some or all of their luggage may not arrive on the same flight. Passengers with luggage above 20kg signed indemnity forms in this regard, while those whose bags were in the region of 20kg were informed verbally that their bags would arrive on the next scheduled flight, to which they all agreed.”
However, after boarding, the passenger noticed that her bag was not among the luggage loaded into the bowels of the aircraft and then angrily stepped down from the aircraft, insisting that her bags be loaded, otherwise, nobody was going to fly.
Despite intervention by the Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN AVSEC) and the pilot, the passenger did not budge. The pilot, however, offered to carry her checked-in bag in the cabin, but the size did not fit.
“All the while, the pilot was taking note of the time because Uyo was a sunset airport, and the airspace would be shut down any moment.”
“AVSEC then explained to the angry passenger that she would have to be deboarded if she refused to travel without the bag. She asked to be allowed to pick her handbag from the cabin, only to get in there and block the aisle, insisting that the flight would not depart without her bags.”
“Among the 89 other passengers was an infant and a chef who was traveling to provide paid service to a big client in Abuja. Despite all pleas, she held the plane hostage until the airspace was closed. Consequently, the pilot had to announce the cancellation of the flight.”
“It was at that moment that other passengers became irate. Had AVSEC and Ibom Air personnel, led by Amaka Echetabu, not been on top of their game, the unruly passenger would have been lynched.”
Achimugu stated that the airline had to provide immediate refreshments, transportation for passengers who were residents in Uyo, and hotel accommodation for those who came from out of town at great and avoidable cost, meaning that the airline would have catered twice for the same flight.
He added that this created a scheduling challenge that would take days to normalize, regretting that, in an industry where profit margins are extremely thin, this was very avoidable.
The passenger, while defending her actions, said that in December, her luggage was delayed as well, so she didn’t want a repeat of that situation. However, Ibom Air claimed that they actually delivered her bags to her and ensured that they got to her all the way in Aba.
The spokesman of the authority said, “If the airline has proven its efficiency by bringing your luggage to you in a city where there was no airport just last month, by what antecedent do you insist they’d not deliver to Abuja this time? Why agree to this at the check-in counter, only to become unmanageably unruly during boarding?”
He explained that flight operations have weight restrictions. During festive seasons, people travel with more luggage than they normally would, and airlines are allowed to short-land baggage as long as they inform the passenger and the passenger is paid their first needs compensation on arrival. The bags arrive on the earliest possible flight.
Achimugu stressed that the regulations state firmly that no provocation justifies violence at the airport, as certain acts, especially holding up the movement of an aircraft through means of violence, could be interpreted as terrorism, depending on the severity (to be determined by the police).
He disclosed that the passenger is being prosecuted in court as NCAA continues to educate stakeholders about unruly behavior and the penalties it attracts.
