For over one week now, the aviation sector and the country at large have continued to witness what looks like a cross fire between some followers of one of the most revered Royal Fathers, the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero and the management of Air Peace airline over flight disruption.
Speaking for the Emir, the Chief Protocol Officer, Isah Bayero, accused the airline of disrespecting Ado-Bayero by delaying his flight from Banjul to Lagos and refusing to delay the flight that ought to fly him direct flights to Kano.
According to Isah Bayero: “We booked our tickets on that aircraft and anybody that is familiar with international flight understands what is on-transit passengers and that passenger has priority more than any other passenger on board. For delaying us from Banjul, which caused our arriving late to Lagos, Air Peace has the moral duty to accommodate or take care of us. Unfortunately, there was no option or offer to ease our situation, only for us to be left stranded.”
Responding, the management of Air Peace said it never disrespected the traditional ruler saying: “Rather than disrespect the revered Emir of Kano, Air Peace did everything to PROTECT THE NAME AND IMAGE OF THE EMIR FROM RIDICULE by not succumbing to what Isa Bayero wanted us to do.
“If we had agreed to stop and delay an aircraft, already set to take-off, for another one hour only for the doors to be opened and the Emir to walk in, there would have been a very serious uproar in the media nationwide against both the airline and the Emir. This we pleaded with Isa Bayero to understand but he refused to accept.”
The height of the imbroglio was when Isah Bayero, a cousin of the Emir who coincidentally is a pilot in a petition to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) called for the airline to be punished and equally issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the airline management to offer an apology for allegedly disrespecting the Emir and causing a delay to his flight.
The issue of flight delay and cancellations have become topical in the recent past with serious pressure being mounted on the airlines in view of the traumatic experiences it inflicts on passengers.
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Even though the airlines have attributed reasons for the menace to many factors many of which are beyond their control, they still need to buckle up whenever such issue rears its head.
However, because some challenges just come without prior notice, passengers should try as much as possible to reason with the airlines in the sense that no airline will deliberately delay or cancel flights.
Without doubt, because the airlines in Nigeria are operating under excruciating challenges with not much help coming from the government, any time issues of fight delays crop up, it should not be an opportunity to bring down the whole sector.
The communication breakdown between the Kano Emirate and Air Peace has gone again to show how many people refuse to understand the fact that flight operations is run based on laid down principles.
While the airlines in conjunction with the NCAA should further tackle the issue of flight delays, there is also the need to let all classes of travelers realize that there is only one general rule guiding the principle of flying. In other words, no law allows a flight to be delayed for any one.
This therefore brings to focus the role being played by the Chief Protocol Officer to the Kano Emirate, who has been spearheading the onslaught against Air Peace for failing to delay flight for the Emir and his entourage.
Ordinarily, the position of Prince Isah would have been overlooked but as a pilot, he was expected to know better on such issues. Asking Air Peace to delay an already flight fully loaded with passengers for over one hour would have been at the detriment of the passengers.
The energy being put into the issue by the Prince and the threats to the airline to apologize is capable of inciting people against the airline.
Making such an inflammatory statement and threats should not be taken for granted by the regulatory agencies in view of the caliber and position of who is behind the statement.
Obviously, the Emir is a respectable Nigerian leader who will never engage in such issues which calls for questioning the attitude of the Chief Protocol Officer. Besides, if he had handled the development more maturely, the Chairman of Air Peace who is known for his patriotism would have gone to any length to satisfy the Emir.
Making garrulous statements and threats by the Prince rather than bring peace has ended.
and then