Aviation Fuel Crisis: Domestic airlines operate skeletal flights

The nation’s airports on Monday experienced skeletal flight operations as the scarcity of JET A1, popularly known as aviation fuel continued across the country.

 

Thousands of passengers were stranded at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport due to the scarcity to the situation.

Henrietta Yakubu, the Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Abuja, said that the scarcity had affected flight operations at the airport.

Yakubu said that airlines were operating their flights minimally, leading to many flight cancellations and leaving passengers stranded.

According to her while some airlines were able to operate skeletal service, others that had no fuel, had their operations grounded.

‘’The scarcity of JET A1 that had been on since the weekend still persists as many flights are unable to operate.

‘’There have been many cancellations as a result of the situation and many passengers are also stranded,’’ she said.

However, Yakubu said that international flights were not affected by the scarcity as there have not been any case of flight delays or cancellation from that end.

Meanwhile, Ola Adebanji, the Head of Corporate Communications, Arik Air, said that the situation had improved compared to what it was at the weekend when flights could not operate.

Adebanji said that the airline was operating skeletal service due to the scarcity of aviation fuel.

‘’The scarcity is still there but it is better than what we had during the weekend because we could not operate any flight over the weekend.

‘’We are operating today but not full flights; it is skeletal.’’ he said.

Domestic airlines were forced to cancel a number of flights at the weekend due to the situation while thousands of passengers were stranded at various airports.