Aborted Flight: 280 Turkish Airline’s Passengers Still Stranded in Lagos

No fewer than 280 passengers of Turkish Airlines were still stranded in Lagos on Thursday following the technical fault developed by the airlines’ aircraft that was scheduled to transport them to Istanbul on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the aircraft carrying 300 passengers had developed a technical fault before its take-off at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

NAN gathered that the flight was aborted immediately the pilot detected the fault and that the airline’s management later lodged the passengers at Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac town in Lagos state.
The passengers were assured by the airline that they would be checked-in into the next available Turkish flight scheduled for Wednesday.

However, on Wednesday, the airlines’ shuttle bus allegedly came to the hotel with instructions by its operators that it was to pick only 20 passengers to fill up the remaining seats in the flight.

The situation was said to have led to the passengers scrambling for space, insisting that they must all travel with the flight.

The situation was said to have been further worsened by the failure of the airlines’ officials to calm frayed nerves by refusing to address the passengers.

A NAN correspondent who visited the hotel around 10 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon spoke with some of the passengers, who expressed grievances at the shoddy treatment meted out to them by the airline.

They alleged that the airline only took 20 passengers to another aircraft while the rest were left to their fate.

Mr Pakison George told NAN that he was traveling from Nigeria to Italy via Istanbul, adding that he was frustrated by the delay caused by the airline.

“I am traveling from Nigeria to Italy, through Turkish Airline. The problem was that the aircraft we boarded couldn’t move because we heard a huge noise coming out from the aircraft. The pilot had to return and we all alighted after spending more than two hours in the aircraft but the airline’s management later lodged us in a hotel here. Right now, we are still waiting for them to take us to the airport but this evening we heard a news that the airline just took 20 passengers out of 300 passengers that were in the aircraft initially,’’ he said.

George, therefore, appealed to the airline to release another aircraft from its fleet that would convey them to the Turkey.

Another passenger, Mr Andreno Johnson, complained about the lack of communication between the airline and its passengers on the resolution of the issue.

Johnson said: “We were to fly on Tuesday (July 21) but the aircraft had a technical problem and we were inside the plane for close to between one and two hours before we were disembarked.

“However, there was no information from the airline until about 3 a.m., and it was not until we raised an alarm that they checked us into a hotel.

“There has been no information from the top, nobody knows what is happening until now.’’

Another passenger who pleaded anonymity told NAN that it was wrong for the Turkish airline to create space for only 20 passengers out of the lot.

“We have been at the hotel since Tuesday now and the airline came to take 20 people. We don’t know if they are special people or not,’’ the passenger said.

All efforts to get the reaction of the management of the Turkish Airlines proved abortive as calls made to the cell phone of its Managing Director, Mr Ali Bulut, did not go through.

Credit: NAN