Nigeria Content Online

301 passengers and 16 crew members of the British Airways who
left Nigeria from Lagos to London in the late hours of Saturday last week
arrived their destination about two days after.

The travellers, who left the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos aboard a BA74 aircraft landed at the Tamanrasset airport in
Algiers around 2.30am after an equipment cooling exhaust in the plane developed
a technical fault, a situation which made the pilot of the aircraft to enforce
an emergency landing.

The media consulting firm for the carrier, The Quadrant
Company, on Monday revealed to NEXT that the affected passengers of the flight
have been evacuated from Algiers and have all landed at the Heathrow Airport,
London.

“A replacement B747-400 aircraft was sent to Algiers to pick
the customers up and they are all now in London with those who have connecting
flights already heading from their destinations,” said Chidiebere Onorha, media
representative of the Quadrant Company in Lagos.

According to the airline’s consultant, the travellers got to
London at about 9pm on Sunday, adding that they were transferred to another
aircraft with less Club Seats compared to the original one that took them out
of Nigeria.

“They were diverted to Algiers because Algiers is halfway from
here to London and the aircraft from London got there at about 4.45pm. It takes
about three hours from Algiers to London and the reason for their getting to
London in the evening was due to the processes of transfer from the original
aircraft to the new one,” he said.

According to British Airways, a number of passengers had to go
through downgrades upon arrival of the sent aircraft due to the fact that the
plane had less comfort in contrast to the original plane which took them out of
Lagos, Nigeria.

Meanwhile, NEXT could not reach any of the travellers who are currently in
the United Kingdom, as the carrier did not make this possible prior to press
time.