The delay in their flight happened without an explanation or apology.
SaharaReporters gathered that the flight was postponed without prior notice by the airline from 7:20pm till 11pm – about the time when the passengers were arrested.
“After delaying our flight from 7:20pm till 11:00pm they finally arrested me and a lady saying we’re not boarding and now they took us to Tango police station,” one of the arrested passengers, @tinnostiles posted on Instagram.
Another passenger said, “Our flight from Lagos to Abuja was delayed for over 3 hours. Some people complained and were arrested.”
Air Peace is yet to react to the allegations.
This is coming a few weeks after the Nigerian government said airline operators in the country must refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay.
“On domestic flights, delay beyond one hour, a carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour.
“Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets. For delays between 10pm and 4am, the carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email, and transport to-and-fro airport,” the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika had said.
Data released by NACA show that in the first quarter of this year, out of the 14,662 domestic flights operated in the country, 7,554 were delayed.
Also, 562 flights were delayed out of the 1,871 international flights operated out of the country. Nine international and 149 domestic flights were cancelled.
Currently, there are nine domestic airlines operating scheduled flights in the country, while 19 airlines operate international flights in and out of Nigeria, according to the NCAA data.
