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Atsar Terver
 Public Commentator
 Port Harcourt
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I therefore urgently call upon the Minister for Aviation to immediately audit the activities of Medview Airline with the view to addressing these concerns.

 
SOS to Aviation Minister: Call Medview to order

The Minister for Aviation needs to hear this.
It is 12:30am and some passengers are still at the PHC international Airport waiting to catch a flight to Lagos that was scheduled for 7.pm.It was first shifted to 9.30pm and then to 10pm.
 

And now at 12:30am there is no information about the flight anymore. The Airline has not offered an apology and none of their officials is visible. No refreshments for the passengers who have missed their dinner at home; and there is no alternative arrangement for their flight or accommodation for the night.

This has become a standard operating culture of this Airline. I experienced this nasty treatment from Medview in May this year. My Flight was scheduled for 7.00pm Nigerian Time. The Airline shifted the flight to 9.30pm for operational reasons. Only God knows what to hell are these operational reasons.

At 9.30pm Airline announced a further delay of 30minutes for same operational reasons. Then at about 10.00pm Airline announced further delay of flight till 11.00pm

Flight eventually took off about 11.00pm(cumulatively 4hours behind schedule)

While this psychological torture lasted, no official of the airline spoke to the passengers either by way of apology nor reassurance thereby grossly neglecting their duty of care

There is no doubt that the delay caused various degrees of disruptions and complications in individual journey plans of the passengers. The delay further increased the cost of travel to the passengers, as we were made to arrive Lagos very late in the night after midnight) when the cost of taxi services naturally escalated. The delay also caused serious inconvenience to the passengers thereby eroding the value for the money paid the airline for the flight.

Furthermore the delay exposed the passengers to personal safety risks as we were made to travel on deserted Lagos streets at unsafe late hours. It forced some passengers to skip their dinner against their will which is injurious to their health

My Lawyer had written a protest letter to the management of the Airline asking the Airline to tender an apology in Writing to each of the aggrieved customers but they did not as much as deem it necessary to reply.

This is totally unacceptable conduct on the part of the Airline. Even touts at a motor park would tender apologies to passengers when their departure is delayed. There is a safety angle to this too. If the Airline could compromise simple and basic things like customer care ethics with impunity, then one wonders how many safety factors are compromised in the operations of Medview. It calls to question the safety of their planes in the air. It calls to question the rigor of the Audit procedures that were employed to grant them operational license in the Nigerian airspace.

With recent plane crashes and several near misses in the country, the Aviation Minister should not be seen as turning a blind eye to these telling signs of an impending disaster that Medview is promising to be. Doing so would amount to manslaughter.

I therefore urgently call upon the Minister for Aviation to immediately audit the activities of Medview Airline with the view to addressing these concerns.
 

 

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