About 34 passengers disembarked from an Aero flight with a ladder at Bauchi airport on Saturday due to the unserviceable condition of air stairs, Aero management has explained.
The airline explained that ‘a special charter flight operated by Aero to Bauchi had problems with unserviceable equipment by the airport management in disembarking about 34 passengers from Abuja.
“Consequently against the airline’s wish and operation safety guideline, the passengers used a ladder to disembark.
However at the time of boarding, the airline said the air stairs became functional and the passengers boarded successfully’.
The airline said it took adequate safety measures for the operations but the equipment became faulty at the the time of disembarkation.
“Aero wishes to state that it took adequate and safety measures for this operation, including the airport’s ground staff crew to handle the air stairs equipment in Bauchi, unfortunately it became unserviceable at the point of disembarkation.
“Although the airline crew tried to calm down the passengers to wait while the equipment was being fixed, the passengers insisted on their own volition to disembark against all safety protocol of the airline”, the airline said.
Aero Contractors stated further that it is reviewing its safety measures with all charter operations to all airports to prevent such reoccurrence.
“Aero will continue to take adequate measures to ensure that its operations remain safe and secure”, it added.
