It was not a very pleasant sight at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, a few weeks back when passengers of an Arik flight from London had to stage a protest before they were reunited witht their luggage after several days of waiting.
The same situation is on the cards again as passengers on the same route from another airline, this time, Medview Airlines, have been separated from their luggage for days. In its attempt to explain the situation , the airline’s media consultant, Oyibhota Obuke, said that dispatched a special flight to London on Saturday to airlift the left over baggage but were unable to do so as Gatwick Airport authorities could not screen them due to lean staff strength during the holidays.
“Gatwick Airport had on arrival of the aircraft said it had no capacity to screen the baggage as only a handful of its workforce was on duty because of holiday.
“We thought by Sunday we would have resolved the left over baggage issue if not for Gatwick Airport authorities,” the statement quoted the airline’s Chief Operating Officer, Lookman Animashaun, as saying.
The airline is promising affected passengers that by Monday, another flight would leave for London and would be able to lift their luggage back to Lagos. Medview will be hoping to avert a stiff penalty such as the $150 per passenger fine imposed on Arik Airline by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
