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The flight P47140 from Lagos to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, was
initially scheduled to depart Lagos by 7 a.m. but was shifted to 10 a.m.
Some of the passengers were informed quietly by Air Peace
officials that the flight had been further shifted to 11 a.m., source said.
But at about 11:20 a.m., the Air Peace officials brought the
now agitated passengers together and informed them that their flight would be
delayed further because the aircraft they were supposed to travel in developed
technical problems.
“Hey, stop that nonsense, refund our money to us,” a male
passenger shouted angrily at an unnamed female official of Air Peace who made
the announcement.
“What kind of ill-treatment is this? You brought us out to
the airport since 7 a.m., and you have been keeping us here as if we don’t have
what to do with our time,” the passenger said, as he continued to shout.
Other passengers also shouted at the airline official who
was struggling to explain what caused the delay.
They demanded a refund of their airfare.
One passenger complained that he had an important business
meeting to attend virtually by 2 p.m. and that he would really love to be in Uyo
by that time.
The airline official pointed to Air Peace aircraft parked on
the tarmac. “That’s the aircraft that was to fly you people to Uyo,” she said.
“It’s grounded because of technical problem, the engineers
are working on it. But we don’t know when they will be through with it.”
She said that Air Peace was working on an alternative
solution, to fly deploy to the Uyo route an aircraft that was flying into Lagos
from Akure, Ondo State.
“So what time are we leaving here (Lagos),” a passenger asked
the airline official.
“I am sorry, I can’t tell,” she responded.
“They are boarding right now at Akure, so they should be in
Lagos by 12:30p.m,” she added.
By 12:40 p.m., as at the time of filing this report, the
expected aircraft was yet to land at the Lagos Airport.