Tragedy was averted, for the second time in less than 2 weeks, on Friday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2) in Lagos following a ground collision of two aircraft belonging to FirstNation Airways.

A similar incident had occurred at the airport on July 6, following the collision of two aircrafts belonging to Emirates and Hak Air.

It was gathered that Friday’s incident which happened at about mid-day involved two Airbus 330 conveying not fewer than 250 passengers. The two aircraft had their bodies partially damaged as a result of the collision.

A source at the airport said one of the aircrafts was taxiing from the runway to MMA2, to disengage passengers while the other aircraft was preparing to take off to Port-Harcourt Airport from the same terminal.

The source alleged that the pilot may have been misdirected by the marshals who directed the pilot to taxi to the wrong part of the apron.

According to the source, the Port-Harcourt bound aircraft was parked at Gate 4 while the arriving aircraft was bound for the Gate 3 of the terminal.

However, the source claimed that the marshals misdirected the arriving aircraft to the same Gate as the parked aircraft which led to the two wings brushing each other.

Following the incident, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), immediately, grounded both aircraft while passengers were asked to disembark by the airline.

It was further gathered that the refunds of tickets were made to passengers on the Port-Harcourt bound aircraft by the airline.

The NCAA also confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke. Ndubuoke said no passenger was hurt and that the incident had been referred to the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) for further investigation. He also reiterated NCAA’s commitment to safety and security of passengers. (NAN)

However, First Nation Airways have released a statement blaming officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for the incident involving two of its aircraft. An official of the airline, Rasheed Yusuf in a statement said if FAAN officials were diligent, the incident would have been avoided.

The statement reads thus:

“This Press Release is to clarify the ground incident that occurred on Friday, July 17, 2015. Our Aircraft Registered No. 5N-FND wing tip touched the wing tip of another sister aircraft already parked at another gate. This incident is avoidable if the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria marshallers had been diligent to avoid marshalling the aircraft wrongly.”

“We urge the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to retrain the marshallers as we understand that the marshallers at MMA2 are deployed by FAAN under an MOU with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, the operator of MMA2, Ikeja. It is important to emphasize that at no time was the safety of passengers at risk.”

“The regulatory authorities will also need to enhance oversight of the marshallers and their authorisation to arrest the growing incidents of aircraft damage on ground in Nigeria which is embarrassing. Besides the huge losses that Firstnation and other airlines suffer as a result of avoidable ground incidents. You will recall that a similar incident involving Emirate aircraft occurred only a couple of days ago.”

“Firstnation Airways takes passengers’ safety seriously. The regulatory authority (NCAA) has been informed of the above incident. Aircraft has been assessed and repair is ongoing to ensure that the aircraft return to service in strict compliance with the highest safety standard in accordance with industry best practices.”

“First nation Airways since launch in 2011 continues to build high standard of operation with safety as the airline’s essential focus.”

Comments

comments