The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has given an update on the passengers who were diverted to Lome in Togo by Air France, following bad weather experienced by the airline in Abuja on Thursday.
On his X handle on Friday, NCAA spokesman, Michael Achimugu said the 55 passengers were housed by the airline in a four-star hotel and will be airlifted back to Nigeria tonight (Friday night).
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Recall that the Minister for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, raised the alarm on how Air France was attempting to abandon the passengers in Lome after the aircraft diverted to the neighbouring country following bad weather in Abuja.
Keyamo, in his strongly worded tweet, insisted that the passengers must either be brought into Nigeria yesterday (on Thursday) night or taken care of in accordance with world-class best practices.
The minister’s tweet reads, “I have just been alerted of a situation involving mostly Nigerian passengers left stranded at Lome, Togo, by @airfrance. I am told that the flight from Paris bound for Abuja could not land due to the bad weather in Abuja this evening. The flight then diverted to Lome.
However, the confounding situation now is that instead of bringing the passengers back to Abuja after the storm subsided, there are plans to leave them in Lome till tomorrow, even when that same flight will return to Abuja tonight to pick up passengers.
“After directing my Director of Air Transport management to call the country Manager of @airfrance, I also personally called @AirFranceNG a few minutes ago and insisted that those passengers must be brought back to Abuja tonight or be treated in line with best international standards if they must sleep in Lome.”
Barely 13 hours later, the NCAA spokesperson reported, “ The Nigerians in this situation (due to weather) are comfortably housed in a 4-star hotel in Lome. An Air France aircraft will arrive from Paris tonight to transport all 55 passengers to Abuja. The situation is being monitored, and the airline will submit a compliance report afterwards.”