Following diversion of its Lagos-Abuja en route flight to Asaba on Sunday, all foreign lease aircraft under United Nigeria Airlines have been suspended by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Some of the passengers of the diverted plane had raised an alarm via their different social media pages and accounts.
It was reported that the airplane, belonging to United Airlines landed in Asaba International Airport rather than the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA).
The development, shocking to passengers, was said to be due to poor destination weather in the nation’s capital.
But, aviation experts nullified this claim, saying that weather reports are released to pilots or airlines every 30 minutes.
The airline maintained that at all material time, the aircraft’s pilot was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed.
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A former Director General of the Agency, Benedict Adeyileka, confirmed the statement on Monday saying the incumbent DG of NCAA, (Captain Musa Nuhu) could suspend United Airlines pending investigation.
He condemned United Airlines’s action, describing it as unprofessional and needing a thorough investigation.
“Just confirmed that their sub-Part G of their AOC is suspended. This means all their foreign registered aircraft are on subpart G.
“If you take the flight from Lagos to Abuja, the Captain is supposed to announce that it is landing in Asaba for whatever reason, but that was not the case.
“The director of the NCAA has the power to suspend that operation pending the investigation on the matter”.
According to the source, all the wet-leased aircraft in the airline’s operations would remain suspended pending the outcome of an investigation on the Sunday incident, involving one of the wet-leased aircraft in the airline’s fleet.
No fewer than two wet-leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft are in the fleet of United Nigeria Airlines.