Airline Confirms Arrest Of Three Passengers

Air Peace has confirmed that three passengers were within the week taken away by security agents for interrogation after they disrupted and delayed its 6:30 Lagos-Abuja  flight for three hours. The airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, on Tuesday in Lagos, said security personnel from  the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had to be invited to  restore order in a statement he released to newsmen.
He said : “We wish to confirm and set the records straight regarding  the unruly and disruptive conduct of three passengers (two men and a lady) on our 6:30 Lagos-Abuja service on September 11.
“During the pre-departure safety briefing by our crew, the three passengers began to query the seating arrangement of the aircraft.
“Efforts by our crew to let the passengers understand that the seating arrangement was as approved by both the FAAN and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) were rebuffed.”
According to  him, the pilot-in-command of the flight was later briefed by the crew to intervene  but the that passengers refused to cooperate with the captain.
Iwarah said they insisted on bringing the airline’s engineers on board to confirm the airworthiness of the aircraft.
He said :”The passengers insisted that the aircraft was unsafe and would suffer the fate of one other domestic airline which had one of its aircraft crashed some years ago.
“The unruly passengers prevented our crew from continuing with the safety briefing.
“Understandably, other passengers on board the flight became apprehensive and insisted that  unruly passengers should be taken off the flight.
“The pilot-in-command, therefore, had no choice than to request the unruly passengers to disembark. The passengers, however, refused to comply, leading to the captain of the flight calling for the intervention of FAAN security personnel.
“The passengers also refused to refrain from their disruptive conduct upon the intervention of FAAN security personnel.” Iwarah said after about three hours delay, two of the disruptive passengers eventually agreed to disembark, while the lady among them was adamant.
“She only agreed to disembark upon other passengers’ intervention after delaying the flight for almost three hours. “The three passengers were eventually taken away  by FAAN security personnel for interrogation.
“They were later transferred  to the police for further investigation,” he said.
Iwarah said  that the aircraft’s seating arrangement remained  as approved by  both domestic and international aviation authorities, including NCAA and FAAN and in compliance with global best practices in the aviation industry.