There was pandemonium yesterday night at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, as a Medview aircraft en route to Lagos failed to take off several hours after boarding passengers due to engine failure.

The plane, Medview flight VL2107 was said to have boarded passengers at about 7pm and was billed to take of at 7:15pm only for the pilot to start the engine and turn it off after some minute.

Narrating their ordeal of having to wait endlessly for the airline to take them to their destination to no avail, one of the passengers, Mrs. Maureen Okoli told LEADERSHIP at about 10pm yesterday that at first they thought the delay was as a result of presidential VIP movement, but were later told by one of the pilots that the aircraft had developed engine problem.

She said, “We boarded Medview airline at about 7pm. The plane was billed to take off at 7pm. After boarding the plane, the cabin crew closed the door and we were in the aircraft for more than one hour. They put on the engine and turned it off again.

“We thought the president was making a movement, but we were very surprised when the pilot announced to us that the plane has developed engine problem. As I speak to you now, we are still at the airport stranded. I have a three- year old baby here and nobody has bordered to give food or anything to eat”.

She further said at point, instead of officially cancelling the flight, manager of the aircraft asked those complaining to go and collect their money they had booked for the flight ticket.

According to her, the passengers were left with no other choice than to quickly petition the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at about 9:55pm, asking it to investigate the matter.

“If they knew the aircraft was not good, why did they ask us to board the plane in the first plane”, she queried, adding that the aviation authority must act fast to prevent future recurrence of such a risk.

But efforts made to get the reaction of the spokesperson to Medview airline proved abortive, as calls made by our correspondent to his line could not go through at press time.
http://www.leadership.ng/business/494877/medview-passengers-bicker-abuja-airpot-aborted-flight