Posted by By UCHE USIM on
To avoid crisis erupting at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said on Friday that it would abide by the court order restraining it from relocating the domestic flights of Virgin Nigeria from the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
To avoid crisis erupting at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said on Friday that it would abide by the court
order restraining it from relocating the domestic flights of Virgin Nigeria from the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
The Director General of the agency, Dr Harold Demuren said that the Federal Government had directed all agencies to comply with the court's order and maintain
status quo.
Demuren said the office of the Minister of State, Air Transport and the Attorney General of the Federation were taking up the matter. The Federal Government through the National Security Adviser had on Thursday given a 24-hour ultimatum to all local airlines operating from the international wing of the MMA to relocate such flights to the domestic wing in the interest of safety and a level playing field.
NCAA had directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to refuse any errant airline clearance to operate from the international terminal.
However, in a swift reaction to the directive, Virgin Nigeria sought and got an injunction from a Federal High Court restraining the Ministry, the Federal Government and all aviation authorities from carrying out the ultimatum.
When Saturday Sun visited Virgin Nigeria's counters at the international wing of the MMA, the airlines sold tickets freely and boarded local flights, which was a pointer to the fact that the NCAA heeded the court's injunction.
The air traffic controllers on duty said they were not informed of the need to refuse Virgin Nigeria and Arik Air, adding that they cleared all flights from the international wing of the airport.
Virgin Nigeria's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Conrad Clifford, while reacting to the use of armed security agents to demolish Virgin Nigeria's domestic business class lounge by FAAN said that it is unfortunate that relevant authorities have turned a deaf ear to the MMU as well as safety concerns by embarking on forceful ejection of Virgin Nigeria's domestic operations.
Meanwhile the management of Arik air on Thursday night said it will relocate its Abuja and PortHarcourt flights from the International Airport to the old domestic terminal beginning from Friday morning.
Head of Communications of the airline, Gbemiga Ogunleye said the efforts to move to the new terminal had been frustrated by the operators.
Both the Virgin Nigeria and Arik were asked to relocate from the international wing to the domestic wing on Thursday after the expiration of one month ultimatum.