SCORES of passengers were in the early hours of yesterday stranded at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airpot, following the grounding of flights operations of many of the domestic carriers by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over debts running to N4 billion.
This is the fourth time FAAN would be grounding airlines over the issue of debts in the past one year. Among the airlines affected were Aero, Air Nigeria, DANA, Chanchangi and IRS.
Trouble started when officials of FAAN stormed the domestic terminals of the airport to prevent the airlines from operating their flights.
Passengers were left stranded for several hours with some sitting on the floor of the terminal, awaiting the next line of action from workers of the affected airlines.
When The Guardian visited the local terminal, especially the MMA2 passengers said they had reported to the airport as early as 6am in a bid to get flights to their destinations only to meet the problem on ground.
The tension was however brought under control, hours later when the information desk at the terminal instructed airlines to commence boarding of passengers following the decision of FAAN to grant them few days of grace to pay up their debts.
Confirming the situation, spokesman for FAAN, Akin Olukunle, said the airlines owed FAAN several billions of naira but added that the grace granted the carriers to resume operations is a temporary measure.
Olukunle, who said the decision of FAAN to ground the airlines, is an attempt to make them pay up their accumulated debts, declared: "We are having issues with the airlines over debts. Many of them are still indebted to the authority and we have to recover our debts."
Speaking in the same vein, spokesman for DANA airline, Mr. Tony Usidamen, while disclosing that the DANA airline operational staff at the airport had issues with FAAN over reconciliation of account, added: "The situation has been resolved. Very soon checking in and boarding of passengers will start."
Source: Passengers Stranded, As FAAN Grounds Debtor Airlines (http://guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36313:passengers-stranded-as-faan-grounds-debtor-airlines-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)