By Tunde Sholanke
Air Peace on Saturday morning diverted its Kano bound flight to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja over poor visibility at the airport.
Besides, Azman Air and Max Air failed to operate their flights out of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos to northern destinations due to the same reason of foggy weather in most parts of the northern states.
Premium News reports that about 160 passengers of Air Peace flight P47420 on its Airbus 320 aircraft, which departed Lagos Airport at 6:25am on Saturday to Kano were diverted to Abuja on account of the poor weather .
The aircraft was within the Kano airspace as at the time the pilot decided to divert the plane to Abuja as the poor weather condition in Kano worsens.
At Abuja airports, the airline advised its passengers to either disembark or return to Lagos.
Some of the passengers took the option of returning to Lagos, while the others disembark at Abuja airport.
One of the affected passengers,Mr. Adekunle Adelabu,said that the pilot informed them of the poor visibility in Kano before diverting to Abuja.
The situation had led to the disruption of his plan in Kano, but lauded the pilot for his display of professionalism,he said.
He added: “While we were in Kano airspace, the pilot announced to us that the flight would be diverted to Abuja airport because of the poor weather in Kano. At first, some of the passengers were apprehensive of the situation, but nothing is more precious than life.
“At Abuja airport where we landed safely, the airline at first told us to wait for an hour to know if the weather condition would improve in Kano, but after about two hours, we were given an option of either disembarking on return to Lagos.
“Some of the passengers decided to return to Lagos, while others took the option of disembarking in Kano. I love the professionalism of the pilot because he didn’t expose us to unnecessary danger.”
The northern parts of the country are currently experiencing shades of cloudy and foggy conditions, while flights to southern parts were not affected so far by the poor weather.
Also, at the Ilorin Airport, no flight could land or take off as the poor weather pervades the city.
Some of the passengers who had earlier booked for flights to either Abuja or Lagos and other destinations could not do so due to the bad weather.
