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International flights at Lagos airport grounded as aviation handling company, NAHCO, embarks on strike

January 23, 2023 No Comments

Several international flights at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) have been grounded as staff of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) began a strike action over salary increment today January 23.

Many travellers arrived at the airport this morning and were shocked when the airport staff informed them they will not be working as they are on strike.

NAHCO officials handle all things that concern check-in, boarding and ramp services for several international airlines including Air France/KLM, Qatar, Ethiopian Airlines, Delta Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Air.

The striking members had met with their management on Sunday January 22, but the deliberations yielded no tangible results, hence they proceeded with the strike this morning.

The Ministry of Aviation is yet to comment on this development.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane from Islamabad, touched down in Kabul on Monday morning, following the withdrawal of US and allied troops from Afghanistan.

It marks the first flight to land in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan since the chaotic final withdrawal of troops last month.

A statement by PIA spokesman, Abdullah Khan, said the service was a “special flight” to create “goodwill” with the people of Afghanistan and to “strengthen humanitarian efforts,” noting it was “not an aid flight” as wrongly speculated.

Khan said the Boeing 777 aircraft departed Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, at 6:45 a.m. local time after special arrangements had been made by Afghanistan’s civil aviation authorities and PIA’s staff.

Foreign journalists traveled into the Afghan capital on the flight while employees of the World Bank were brought back to Islamabad on the return leg, the spokesman said.

Last week, two Qatar Airways passenger planes, both carrying more than 100 foreign nationals, departed from Kabul and landed in Doha as the new Taliban regime begins a phased opening up to the outside world.

The flights signal that at least some foreign nationals who want to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so, following weeks of uncertainty, a Middle East security expert said while commending the PIA for the initiative.