…passengers with expired passports allowed to travel
Local airlines in Nigeria are witnessing bumper bookings on the back of the relaxing of COVID pandemic restrictions in Nigeria, Europe and the Americas, as well as the traditional Christmas and New Year holiday rush and the fall in the value of the naira against international currencies, particularly the US dollar and the British pound sterling in recent weeks.
The rush of travelers is thought to be further heightened by the approval by Nigerian authorities for foreign airlines to board citizens with expired passports into the country.
This follows on a rush of passengers into Nigeria from abroad for the same reasons.
At the Murtala Mohammed Airport Terminal Two in Lagos Monday Morning, many of the airlines reported that much of their morning and afternoon flights being full booked, particularly for the economy class.
Local airlines operating flights from Lagos up country include, Air Peace, Azman Air, Arik Air, Ibom Air, Aero, Dana Air, Rano Air, Valujet and United.
When our reporter visited the Murtala Mohammed Airport Terminal Two, earlier Monday, officials at the ticketing counters of most of the said airlines reported most of their flights for the day being fully booked, especially for the economy class.
Official at the Valujet and United counters said they had stopped further bookings for Monday and were currently documenting flights forTuesday December 27 and beyond. Our reporter found that the situation was the same for most of the other airlines.
About two hundred passengers were seen queuing up in orderly manner at the departure counters to board flights to various destinations. Destinations included Benin, Ilorin, Asaba, Enugu , Owerri, Portharcourt, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri and Yola.
Asked why the departure hall was not more congested, officials explained that most bookings were done online and that as such, most passengers only came to the airport to obtain boarding passes and board their flights.
A number of passengers told our reporter that they were scheduled to travel the previous day and that their flights had been delayed or cancelled.
Persons close to the airlines told our reporter that the major reason for delayed flights at this time was more often a shortage of passengers on the return legs of some trips, especially from Lagos and more especially at festive seasons including Christmas and New Year.
They however added that the situation was improving, as many airlines in such situations were turning to interline operations,
Interline operations were described as agreements by which airlines carried one another’s passengers, so as to avoid the losses that come with operating flights with much less than full passenger loads.
