By Frank Kintum
There was temporal confusion and complaints this afternoon, as a United Nigeria Airline (UNA) flight which took off from Lagos to Abuja, landed at the Asaba airport, in Delta state, without prior knowledge of the passengers onboard.
According to the passengers, some of whom reached out to Transport Day, they were confused because the cabin crew announced arrival to the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport, Abuja, whereas, the flight landed at Asaba.
However, when contacted, the spokesman of UNA, Achilleus-chud Uchegbu, explained that the flight was diverted because of bad destination weather, but due to some mix up, the cabin crew mistakenly announced arrival in Abuja, instead of Asaba temporarily.
He equally debunked the insinuations that the expatriate pilot wrongfully landed in Asaba instead of Abuja, saying the experienced pilot has been flying for the airline for long.
A press statement issued by the company stated that “a United Nigeria Airline flight, NUA 0504, operating from the MM2 in Lagos enroute to Abuja, on Sunday, November 26, 2023, was temporarily diverted to Asaba international airport due to poor destination weather.
“At all material time, the pilot of the aircraft was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed.
“However, a wrong announcement was made by the cabin crew upon landing safely in Asaba creating confusion among the passengers.
“Meanwhile, the aircraft has landed safely in Abuja following the improvement on destination weather.
“United Nigeria Airline remains committed to ensuring the safety of its passengers at all times.”
Temporal diversion of flights is a world-wide measure usually applied by pilots due to unexpected poor weather conditions.
