Efforts ongoing to airlift stranded Nigerian passengers on British Airways

The inability of British Airways to fly some Nigerian passengers out of Murtala Muhammed International Airport for three days has been attributed to the technical fault detected on the aircraft scheduled for the flight.

Confirming this to Saturday Tribune on the phone, a senior management official at the airline who spoke in confidence said the inability of the airline to fly the passengers as scheduled was because of the priority placed on safety by the British carrier in times of emergency.

According to the source, it is not in the character of the airline to compromise safety, no matter the pressure; hence, the aircraft in question can only be put to flight after all safety issues have been rectified.

The source, who revealed that the spares needed to replace the faulty one on the aircraft have already been flown to the country and are presently being fixed, assured that as soon as this is done, the passengers will be airlifted.

While some of the affected passengers have been endorsed on other available carriers like Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines and other carriers the BA has alliances with, others who could not be put on other carriers or on other BA flights have all been put in hotels with their feeding and other needs taken care of.

The hitch only affected the June 19th flight, as other flights by the same airline have been operating successfully.

Barring any further delay, the remaining passengers may be flown out of the Lagos airport on Friday evening or Saturday.

The source, however, said that since the challenge occurred, no single passenger has been left unattended to or allowed to sleep at the airport, as they have all been taken care of.

The British Airlines flight number BA 74, which was scheduled to depart from Lagos to London at 10:50 on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, suffered a hitch as the scheduled aircraft developed technical problems.

The flight was finally cancelled after 1:00 a.m., with passengers being asked to cancel their immigration forms and go back to baggage claims to collect their already checked-in luggage.

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