Uche Usim, Abuja
Scores of passengers, ground handlers, airline crews and other members of the aviation community were ecstatic on Wednesday, as local commercial flights returned to the skies, after 102 days of inactivity, to check the spread of the COVID-19 pestilence.
Airlines like Arik, Max, Ibom Air and Air Peace operated Lagos-Abuja-Lagos services on Wednesday morning with above 65% load factor on the average.
Daily Sun learnt from the airlines and travel agencies that despite total adherence to COVID-19 protocols by operators and agencies, many passengers were still skeptical to fly at this point in time.
“Many want to wait for sometime before flying. This is still early stages and we’re optimistic that things will pick up”, an airline senior official told Daily Sun.
Scheduled flights operated on Wednesday, as released by the Ministry of Aviation, shows that Arik Air flight ARA 720 with registration number 5NMJQ was airborne out of Lagos at about 6:20am with 78 passengers and nine crew members. It was a B737-800 aircraft.
The second restart departure flight was Max Air’s flight NGL1640, a B737-300 with registration 5NBBM that departed Lagos to Abuja. It was airborne at 09:21am with 55 passengers and five crew members on board.
Another airline that flew was Ibom Air flight IAN4152, operated by a CRJ-900 with registration number 5NBWL and conducted a Lagos to Abuja service. It departed 10:30am with 31 passengers and five crew members.
More so, Air Peace flight APK7120, a B737 with registration number 5NBQP carried out a Lagos-Abuja service. It left Lagos at 10:45am with
112 passengers and nine crew.
It was further gathered that some flights were disrupted due to food and energy supply chain breaches as the bulk of them were imported.
Ahead of the domestic flight restart, airlines had marginally hiked their fares to reflect increased operational cost as a result of COVID-19.
On the seeming passenger reluctance to fly, the Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi, assured that all necessary safety measures were in place to guarantee safe and smooth operations in a time of a pandemic.
Passengers who spoke with Daily Sun described the reopening as a soothing development.
A passenger named Paschal said: “I’m glad the airlines are back in the skies.
I’m a businessman and I come to Abuja every week to monitor my business here. The head office of my company is Lagos but I’ve Abuja as my regional office. I always come to monitor things. So, this is good”.
On the COVID-19 protocol, he said: “The terminals are marked to show you where to stand to observe social distancing. There are hand sanitizers and officials checking body temperature and all that. The process was not even as hectic as I thought”, he said.
Another traveler, John, lamented the hike in air fare but said it was in response to current realities.