Hundreds of passengers groan with more flights cancelled over harmattan

It was avalanche of flight cancellations yesterday at airports across the country as passengers got stranded over bad weather which prevented take off and landing of aircraft.

Apart from delays experienced with few flights which managed to take off, many flights were cancelled yesterday after several hours of delays, according to findings.

Daily Trust correspondent who was at the domestic terminals of Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) reports that many morning flights could not depart on schedule while some of them were eventually cancelled.

Also from other parts of the country especially the north, the story was not different. Azman Air was badly affected as its morning flights from Kaduna and other states in the region could not depart.

In Lagos, Arik Air cancelled flights to Ilorin, Ibadan, Enugu and Warri. Overland Airways OF1198 to Akure was cancelled. Dana Flight to Port Harcourt scheduled to depart by 10 a.m was cancelled.

As at the time of filing this report, other Airlines like Air Peace, Dana Air also rescheduled their flights.

It was learnt that the South South part of the country was badly hit by the harmattan haze which blurred visibility.

Some officials of the airline confirmed to our correspondent that it was not until afternoon and in the evening time before the weather situation improves.

Mr. Saminu Tanko, a manager of Azman Air said the airline did not cancel any flight but its flights were only delayed for some hours.

“We did not cancel any flight but we experienced little delay. The weather is affecting all the airlines but as I am talking to you, the weather is okay in the north. It was worse yesterday and on Christmas day”, he said.

Also Dana Air spokesman Kingsley Ezenwa said the airline tried as much as possible not to cancel its flights, saying, “We only had slight delays “.

Meanwhile airline operators have groaned over poor navigational equipment at most airports nationwide, saying this has worsened the experience with weather.

An Operator who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “While the harmattan haze is normal around the world, we are also confronted with poor navigational equipment at most of the airports. Sadly some of the aerodromes are not night flying airports which could have enabled us to meet up with the losses incurred in the morning and afternoon.

“While other countries with advanced aviation can operate under zero visibility, airlines in Nigeria are cancelling flights as a result of harmattan haze.

Harmattan haze should not be blamed for flight delays, but the inability to get accurate facilities to land or allow airplanes to take off from Nigerian airports due to poor equipment.

“It is very shameful that we close airports over “2000 weather minimums” whereas in Europe and other places, aircraft take off in almost zero visibility conditions.”