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NCAA begins probe of United Nigeria’s ‘mistaken’ flight to Asaba
Worried about an Abuja flight that ended in Asaba, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it has commenced an investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to what can be termed an embarrassment.
A United Nigeria Airlines Flight NUA 0504 which took off from Lagos to Abuja but ‘shockingly’ found itself in Asaba on Sunday.
The aviation regulatory body in a statement on Monday said preliminary steps had been taken pending conclusions of ongoing investigation. It expressed sadness over the confusion the situation had created in the public domain.
The authority reassured the traveling public that it would leave no stone unturned as it had always done in the past to ensure the continued safety of the aviation industry.
On Sunday, the aviation industry was thrown into when the flight destined for Abuja ended up in Asaba in what had been attributed to the filing of the wrong flight plan by the airline.
Immediately after the aircraft landed at the Asaba airport, the cabin crew announced to the excited passengers that they had landed in Abuja.
As they looked through the aircraft windows, the reality dawned on them that they were actually in Asaba and not Abuja which bore the boarding pass they were holding and one that was originally their destination.
One of the passengers on his X handle@dawisu said the aircraft departed Lagos on a United Nigeria flight to Abuja and upon arrival, the cabin crew confidently announced that they had arrived in Abuja only for them to realize that they landed in Asaba.
‘Apparently, our pilot was given the wrong flight plan from Lagos”, he stated.
There are indications that the NCAA has suspended one of the aircraft of United Nigeria Airlines over the incident.
A source who works with the aviation regulatory body but who pleaded anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said that the apex civil aviation regulatory body took the decision on Monday via a letter communicated to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the airline.
According to the source, all the wet-leased aircraft in the operations of the airline would remain suspended pending the outcome of an investigation on the Sunday incident, involving one of the wet-leased aircraft in the fleet of the airline.
It was gathered that the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Capt. Musa Nuhu called an emergency meeting of the agency, where it was resolved that the excuse given by the airline was not tenable to the authority.
A wet-leased is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to another airline or other type of business acting as a broker of air travel (the lessee), which pays by hours operated.
The source said: “NCAA has suspended all the wet lease aircraft in the operations of United Nigeria Airlines. The excuse they provided to us that the diversion to Asaba was due to poor weather in Abuja was not acceptable to us. So, we have to take the big step of suspending all the aircraft that are wet-leased in their fleet.
“The aircraft will remain suspended until after an investigation. We can’t allow this to happen. The fact is that their crews are foreigners and they are not familiar with Nigeria, which the airline ought to have done. So, we are suspending them until after the investigation.”
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