The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that a female passenger who obstructed an Ibom Air flight headed for Abuja will be subject to the full force of the law.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, exclusively told our correspondent on Monday that the irate passenger had been handed over to the police and also charged to court.
In line with the regulations, Achimugu confirmed that the passenger would be prosecuted, adding, “The NCAA continues to educate stakeholders about unruly behaviour and the penalties it attracts.”
“The regulations state firmly that no provocation justifies violence at the airport. Certain acts, especially holding up the movement of an aircraft through means of violence, could be interpreted as terrorism depending on the severity (to be determined by the police).
“She was taken to the police and was in detention for two nights. She has been charged to court but granted bail. That was the last information I got from the airline, and later today (Monday), I will get further information.”
Asked why she wasn’t deboarded to avoid holding other passengers to ransom, Achimugu said, “I intend to hold a meeting with Avsec and FAAN because there seems to be room for improvement in the protocols for handling unruly passengers.
“It is when things like this happen that we see the lapses and areas where we need to improve. Because the response should have been quicker and the action should have also been faster. This that happened is preventable, very preventable. But no point at the moment excuses the woman for what she did, and that is why she will face the full wrath of the law.”
Recall that PUNCH Online had reported how the ‘unruly passenger’ stopped an aircraft from flying after the airline officials refused to carry her overweight luggage with her on the same flight.
Our correspondent gathered that the airline, Ibom Air, had earlier announced to passengers that luggage exceeding 20 kg would not arrive on the same flight but on the next duplicated flight of the airline.
While passengers initially agreed to this arrangement, the woman became furious upon discovering her bag had not been loaded onto the aircraft.
The irate passenger disembarked and demanded that her bag be loaded immediately, threatening to prevent the flight from taking off otherwise.
Despite pleas from different quarters, the angry passenger held the aircraft to ransom till the airport closed and the airline announced the flight cancellation.
