One collapses as passengers, Azman Air officials exchange punches over cancelled flight

Passengers of Azman Air on Friday evening unleashed anger on officials of the Kano based airline over flight cancellation at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, leaving a female staff collapsed and others with injuries.

Confusion ensued at the departure lodge of the domestic wing when the airline announced cancellation of two flight scheduled to depart for Lagos and Abuja.

The enraged by sad announcement, the passengers who could not hide their disappointment faced off against the officials of the airline, leaving bloody mouths and swollen faces on both sides.

It took the timely intervention of the airport security to calm the charged atmosphere.

The Guardian learnt the collapsed female staff was later resucitated sooner after she received first aid treatment.

One of the passengers, who was supposed to depart for Abuja confirmed the development to The Guardian on telephone, lamented disappointment over the cancelled flight.

Abubakar, said the cancelled flight was initially scheduled for 6 am Friday to depart Kano-Abuja before it was shifted to 6pm, only to be rescheduled for Saturday morning without prior notice.

Another passenger, who do not want his name mentioned also revealed that Kano-Lagos flight was also shifted from Thursday evening to Friday morning and later rescheduled for Friday evening before the final cancellation.

The passengers are worried the Saturday rescheduled may not be realistic due to restriction of movement imposed by Kano state government due to local government election.

The police had announced restriction of human and vehicular moment between Friday 12 midnight and Saturday 6pm due to the council poll.

” It was really unfortunate that Azman will treat passengers with disdain,” the passenger said. Our flight was shifted from Thursday to Friday morning and later to Friday evening and now they just cancelled the flight and rescheduled for tomorrow. This is absolute nonsense and it will not be accepted.”

Efforts to speak with officers of Azman air was not successful as the airport manager, Rabiu Zarina, was not reachable to respond.

But a reliable source who wanted his name not mentioned because he was not authorized to speak attributed the cancellation to technical fault.

“The situation is beyond our control,” the Azman Air official said.

“The flight that was scheduled to flight from Abuja to Kano, Kano to Abuja and then to Lagos developed technical fault. The management are already aware and they are working on resolving the matter.”   (Guardian)