Nigeria’s fast-growing carrier, Ibom Air has explained that security operatives were invited to remove a passenger on its 6:00 PM Abuja-Lagos flight on March 31, 2023 because of his unruly behaviour.
In a statement signed by the Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essienette, the airline stated that the passenger stood up at the isle of the aircraft and was shouting at the passengers, which made them uncomfortable, forcing the crew of the flight to invite airport security operatives to evacuate the passenger.
The airline said, “We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6 pm flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, 31 March 2023. A passenger stood up and began addressing other passengers in a manner considered inappropriate and unruly, as he was making other passengers nervous.
“Our crew deemed his continuous unruly behavior unsafe and called on airport security to help with the situation. Upon his refusal to stop or disembark peacefully, the security operatives were left with no choice but to forcefully disembark the passenger as a last option. We are aware that several videos and reports of this incident are circulating on social media and wish to provide the right perspective.
“Ibom Air wishes to assure our passengers that we maintain very high safety and service standards and will never compromise the safety and security of our passengers. We apologize to the affected passengers for the time it took to disembark this passenger, which caused an otherwise on-time departure to be delayed by an hour.”
THISDAY learnt that because of the behaviour of the passenger the flight was delayed for about 45 minutes.
