How COVID-19 Protocols Almost Marred Ethiopian Airlines First Flight To Abuja 

Ethiopian Airlines first trip to Abuja after the resumption of international flights was almost aborted on Monday morning following a disagreement with passengers over Nigeria’s COVID-19 protocol for passengers flying into the country.

The Pilot of the connecting flight from Addis-Ababa to Abuja had announced minutes after taxing on the runway that he had been ordered to disembark passengers whose repeat test payment had not been approved in Abuja.

The Pilot said aviation authorities had threatened sanctions against the airline if the passengers arrived Abuja without presenting an acknowledgement receipt for payment.

Shortly after returning to the parking area at the terminal, the affected 32 Nigerian passengers on board refused to heed to the crew’s directive to leave the aircraft.

They were said to have threatened not to sleep over in a hotel offered by the airline staff, vowing to abort the plane’s trip unless they were cleared to fly with other passengers.

Findings by THE WHISTLER revealed that it took some phone calls from prominent Nigerians on board to aviation authorities before the plane was given the all-clear to leave the airport after nearly an hour delay.

Some of the passengers told the WhistlerNG exclusively that the payment portal server had been down since Monday morning.

The passengers who tried to make the online payment said some of them had been debited more than twice without getting the required bar code which confirms payment for the repeat test.

Passengers flying into Nigeria are required to present a negative PCR test certificate before boarding and are also expected to pay about N43,000 for a repeat test in Abuja and Lagos.

Only two centres are approved by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to carryout the repeat test for international travelers.

Airlines which convey passengers who fail to meet the COVID-19 protocols will be sanctioned and will pay $3,500 per passenger who doesn’t meet the requirements, according to NCDC guidelines.