Bisola David
Due to poor weather, dozens of planes were diverted around the nation on Saturday, leaving travelers stuck.
Daily Trust reported that most northern states were impacted, including Kano, Yola, Maiduguri, and Ilorin, among others.
Since last week, there have been several delays and cancellations due to bad weather.
Due to the weather, Air Peace yesterday changed its early-morning Lagos-Kano trip to Abuja. The Airbus aircraft was carrying no fewer than 160 passengers when it made a U-turn and headed to Abuja.
Additionally, the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport had hours-long delays for flights between Lagos and Ilorin on Air Peace and Green Africa.
Due to severe weather at the destination airport, it was reported that the Air Peace trip to Ilorin would now be delayed for an additional hour.
Also, it was discovered that some travelers headed for Ilorin took a detour through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in the hopes of connecting there.
The flight had not landed as of yesterday afternoon, according to a cousin of one of the passengers, who said he had been waiting at the Ilorin Airport since 7am to pick up his brother.
Also, the Lagos-Kano flight operated by Air Peace had to disembark its passengers in Abuja since it was unable to continue to Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.
According to executive director of Max Air, Barr. Shehu Wada, “safety is our priority and when it comes to weather like that, it is a force to maneuver; we have to reschedule our flights until the weather is clear and it is safe to land.”
According to a different airline operator who confirmed the situation, the way they have managed the situation is that early morning flights can depart from Kano or Kaduna, but those coming in cannot.
“There is nothing we can do when it comes to the extremely significant impact on our operation,” he said.
