Scores of London-bound passengers of Medview Airlines were on Sunday left stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

It was learnt that some of the passengers arrived the Lagos airport as early as 10am in order to be checked-in for the 1pm flight to London but could not do so, as officials of the airline were reportedly not on ground to handle the process.

Our correspondent also gathered that while many of the travellers waited beyond 1pm, others left the airport in annoyance.

An official at the airport stated that the airline later brought buses to convey some of the stranded travellers to a hotel as stipulated by international aviation standards.

Medview Airlines later confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mr. Obuke Oyibotha, explaining that the flight disruption was due to operational challenges.

The carrier also assured the passengers of efforts to airlift them, adding that it had reached out to the affected travellers and by 3pm on Monday, the issue would have been resolved.

“We are deeply sorry for all the inconveniences suffered by the affected passengers and everything possible within standard and recommended practices in aviation is being done to airlift them,” Oyibotha said.

On May 19 this year, the European Commission barred Medview Airlines from operating in its airspace over safety concerns.

The airline was one of those under the EU Air Safety List Annex A barred from operating in Europe at the time.

A total of 181 airlines were prevented from flying into Europe, with 174 barred due to safety oversight by aviation authorities in their home countries.

Source: Punch