Hundreds of airline passengers have been stranded over the weekend across the country, following another scarcity and the high rising cost of aviation fuel known as Jet A1.
The development, it was learnt, started before the Eid-el-Kabir celebration, weeks after air passengers had heaved a sigh of relief that the airline operators had suspended their plan to shut down operations over aviation fuel scarcity.
Our reporter Funke Ogunlolu who spoke to some of the airline operators regarding the development said the situation is critical now, owing to the non-availability of the product, despite the high cost, and the shutting down of Runway 18L/36R at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, in Lagos.
In Abuja, Adamawa, Lagos and other airports, air passengers were stranded between Saturday and Sunday at some airports for over 24 hours, forcing some of the passengers to spend the night at the departure areas of the airports, as they were not aware of the rescheduling of their flights until late in the evening.
The air travellers said the increasing airfare from one hundred thousand Naira to over two hundred within a short period, due to the shortage of aviation fuel, is biting hard and they may no longer be able to bear the cost, should the Federal Government fail to put an end to the worrying trend.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
