Tragedy was averted on Monday, June 28, 2020, after a plane belonging to United Nigeria Airlines developed a battery fault just before takeoff from Asaba Airport in Delta State.
About 60 passengers on board flight U50509, headed to Lagos were forced to disembark at the Asaba Airport.
The newly launched airline, owned by Dr Obiora Okonkwo, an Anambra businessman who over the weekend lost the Anambra Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reportedly operates using four refurbished EMBRAER 145 planes from Russia.
A passenger who spoke with The Trent disclosed that passengers on a flight from Asaba to Lagos scheduled for 2:15 pm were made to disembark because the plane had a battery fault.
The passenger said; “It’s a shame. We had boarded and were awaiting take-off when we were told to alight because there were issues with the battery.”
“Dozens of people are stranded, and we are told that they will need to go to Lagos to buy the battery. How can an airline not notice this kind of life-threatening defect before telling passengers to board?” he questioned.
A Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) official who spoke to The Trent disclosed that the plane for the flight from Asaba to Lagos refused to start.
“Passengers are boiling. Many of them have crowded the Air Peace counter to see if they can get an alternative flight to their destination,” the source said.
“Honestly, United Nigeria Airlines is not a real airline. It’s just a ‘pako’ airline. The authorities need to take more precautionary measures to avert such safety threats. Lives are at stake here,” the FAAN official added.
Editors Note: United Nigeria Airlines Company Limited reached out to us, confirming that indeed their aircraft had a battery malfunction at Asaba Airport on the said date. The company, however, falsely claimed that their engineers were fixing it. Our reporter who was at the airport spoke with the airline officials who said the battery was being brought in “from Lagos or Abuja”. Our earlier story did not mention the model of aircraft and we wrongly stated the number in the airline’s fleet as two instead of four. Aside from these two issues, we stand by our story.
