Ezeakukwu Emmanuel Nsoedo
Civility was thrown out of the window at Asaba Airport between the passengers, staff of Air Peace, and the management of the airport, including the near fisticuffs between the passengers and the security crew.
The Air Peace counter at Asaba Airport was turned into an uncontrollable sphere for Lagos-bound flights.
Among the teeming and frustrated passengers were many who were travelling out of the country tonight. Many of these passengers arrived at the airport as early as 9 am for the 12.30 pm flight.
Air Peace has another flight scheduled for 6.30 pm. The arrival of those passengers caused further consternation as the lasting crowd became a multitude.
The other carriers maintained their scheduled flights. So it was not believable to claim that the weather impacted the Air Peace planes.
The Air Peace passengers became particularly incensed as the attendants kept shifting the time.
To make the whole situation worse, the Air Peace attendants were discourteous to the passengers.
For over 10 hours the passengers waited; Air Peace staff did not offer them water or food.
At some point, an Australian-bound passenger got into a ferocious argument that resulted in shoving.
The staff apparently reported the incident to the airport management. The airport management officials led by their HR manager came with a team of security to apparently arrest the passenger.
The passengers rose in their numbers and resisted them. It was about 10 minutes into the rowdy confrontation that some cool head prevailed on all parties to calm down.
That was when the HR manager of the airport facility apologized to all passengers for their hardship. They at that point informed the passengers that they are not related to Air Peace but only interested in enduring that peace reigns.
They assured the passengers that they will address the issues they raised with Air Peace do that the passengers would continue patronizing them.
All passengers eventually were boarded about 9.12 pm. But the boarding was so chaotic that it was some of the passengers that helped the enraged passengers to cooperate as much as they could with the obviously overwhelmed staff.