Turkish Airlines to return stranded luggage to Nigeria

By Olarewaju Kola

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Turkish Airlines has promised to return all luggage stranded in Turkey of Nigerian passengers by Tuesday, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said Sunday, according to the Channels Television news channel.

The promise came after the NCAA threatened to suspend the airline’s right to fly to Nigeria as of Dec. 16 if changes were not made right away.

Turkish Airlines was reportedly leaving behind too many bags of passengers to and from Nigeria, which the NCAA described as “repeated cases of poor passenger treatment,” with reports saying that flights had arrived in Nigeria missing more than 85% of checked bags.

“Our airport authority had been facing serious crises controlling the passengers at the airport whenever they arrived without their baggage. This issue had made passengers carry out several mob actions at our airport and it was a great threat to our airport facilities,” said NCAA Acting Director General Abdullahi Sidi in a letter.

“In view of all these, and a series of meetings held with the Turkish Airlines’ personnel, which did not yield any solution to this problem, the NCAA is therefore left with no option than to direct Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations into Nigeria until such a time when the airline is ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that can transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time.”

People flying to and from Nigeria are known for checking lots of bags, more than anywhere else, according to onemileatatime.com.

This may have contributed to the airline being unable to accommodate all of the baggage due to the size of the planes and weight issues.

Nigeria’s leading Vanguard daily on Monday cited Sam Adurogboye, the NCAA’s General Manager, Public Relations, as saying the airline has also pledged to upgrade the Boeing 737-800 being used and found inadequate to a larger aircraft that could carry passengers and their luggage simultaneously.

Adurogboye said Turkish Airlines managers and NCAA officials had met in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Friday to discuss the stranded luggage and the airline’s possible suspension.