Many Nigerian air passengers have decried the rush with which the Federal Government and mainly aviation agencies are using to water down COVID-19 Flight Resumption Protocol for Passengers.
Business Hilights recalls that barely one week of test running a three-hour arrival time limit, the time was downed to 90 minutes even as the issue of social distancing aboard passenger plane had been given the back seat.
In an interview on Tuesday with air passengers at MMIA, Lagos, many of them decried that the zeal of COVID-19 precautions which greeted first three days of flight resumption have faded away.
They revealed that many both on arrival and departure hardly observe the marked ground stepping and no caution is being giving by airport officials.
Recall that the Minister of Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, had made known the relaxations on his Twitter handle on Monday, June 13, claiming that based on the review of operations since July 8, 2020 re-opening of airports, passengers can now arrive one and half hours before flights instead of three hours previously contained in the guidelines.
“My colleagues and I have reviewed passenger facilitation at our airports; consequently I am happy to announce that henceforth, travellers are to arrive one hour and a half before their departure time for domestic flights. Travellers are advised to check-in online, please” he tweeted. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had previously said that passengers must arrive at least three hours before their take-off time when commercial operations resume at airports. Stating this on Monday, June 15 on its Twitter handle, FAAN said that passengers’ early arrival would enable efficient checks and screening before boarding.
