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Faulty cooling system: Turkish Airlines Airlifts 266 Passengers From Lagos
…Restates Commitment To Safety, Quality Services
No fewer than 266 passengers who missed their flight from Lagos to Istanbul on Monday due to temporary cabin’s air-conditioning malfunctioning had been successfully airlifted to Turkey on Tuesday night.
In a telephone conversation from Turkey, a passenger who does not want his name in print confirmed that they landed safely in Turkey.
Explaining what happened, a top official of the airline told Woleshadare.net at the airport said, “The AC issue happened when the passengers started boarding the aircraft TK626 on Monday.
The airline notified the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO), which also collaborated with them to resolve it in record time, but some passengers started behaving funny, almost attacking the crew, as if what happened was a technical issue. It was just a matter of asking them to come out of the plane for the crew to restart the engine.
“However, all entreaties made by the crew members to explain the situation to them why they should come out to resolve the issue to enable them fly that Monday night were rejected as many of the passengers started behaving unruly. Assuming they had listened while trying to explain things to them on time, they would have been airlifted them to Turkey that night.
“After they had caused delay and it was clear they could not fly again for the day, the airline had to lodge them in Golden Tulip hotel in Apapa, fed them to their satisfaction and on Tuesday, the passengers were airlifted around 10.30 p.m after the technical crew had done a re-check in.”
Based on the eye witness account, the online report that many passengers fainted as a result of the AC issue was false and a figment of the journalist’s imagination, adding that the only woman who needed help due to fatigue and dizziness requested for medical attention from the crew and the nurses at Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
With the quick intervention and response of the airlines, some passengers were of the opinion that the airline is committed to serving its customers in Nigeria and across it’s over 296 destinations worldwide by putting safety first.
They also thanked the airlines for putting in necessary measures in place for the safety of the passengers no matter what happens.
However, some passengers were of the opinion that the airline should not accept this kind of unruly behaviour from any passenger. They said, Turkish Airlines did more than enough to satisfy them, advising that the management of Turkish Airlines should sue the unruly passengers for causing discomfort and wasting the time of other law abiding passengers.