Air passengers yesterday struggled to catch flights out of Lagos to
various destinations to celebrate the Easter season with their loved
ones.
As early as 6.00a.m., hundreds of passengers, who arrived the local wing
of the Murtala Muhammed Airport to catch their flights became stranded
as many of them could not get seats.
When the Nigerian Tribune visited the GeneralAviation Terminal (GAT)
at the local airport, scores of passengers were seen waiting hopelessly
to see if they could get tickets to buy.
The development came even as Arik Air said it had increased its capacity for the Easter holidays.
Passengers travelling to Abuja, Kano, Port Hacourt, Owerri, Asaba,
Enugu, Warri, Calabarand Uyo were mostly affected by the
non-availability of seats.
Before now, both Arik and Aero Airlines were operating into most of
these destinations, untilAero suspended its flights due to the labour
issues it has with its workers.
While the absence of Aero has compounded operational problems in the
domestic wing, a few surviving local airlines have capitalised onthis to
increase fares by 30 per cent with toutstaking over the counters to
exploit desperate passengers.
At present, any passenger willing to travel to Asaba Airport is expected
to cough out between N28,000 and N32,000 even as most of the
passengers could still not secure seats.
Mr Joseph Akingbeyin, one of the affected passengers, who said he was
to travel to Port Harcourt to celebrate the Easter Holidays with his
family, lamented that he was not able to secure ticket as he was
informed by an airline staff that the seats were fully booked.
Meanwhile, Arik Air yesterday assured the flying public that it had the
capacity to cope with demands of air travellers this Easter season.
An online statement signed by the spokesman of the airline, Mr Banji
Ola, stated that Arik’s Acting Senior Vice President, Operations,
Captain Ado Sanusi, stated the airline had added extra flights to key
domestic destinations to enable Nigerians celebrate the festive season
with their families and loved ones.
Sanusi also dispeled rumours making the rounds that the airline has increased fares.
The statement reads in part, “We have at no time increased our fares to
any of our destinations. Instead, we have introduced low fares on all
the routes and even lower fares when booking on line.”
He advised passengers not to patronise touts or pay extra money to anyone to buy Arik tickets.
He also enjoined passengers to buy their tickets in advance from any
airport or Arik Air city ticketing offices or on line at arikair.com
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