This special appeal, “Let’s Not Create A Bad Name For Asaba International Airport,” comes from the bottom of my heart. So, I enjoin you to read it, from beginning to the end.

I went to Asaba International Airport, Asaba, Delta State, this morning, July 9, 2019, to receive up my son who was billed to fly in from Lagos.

His flight was scheduled to leave the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, MM2, Lagos, which meant he would arrive Asaba on or before 8.45 AM.

While I was waiting patiently for his to arrival, he called to inform me that his flight had been rescheduled for 10.30 AM, more than two hours behind schedule. I didn’t bother. Rather, I continued to wait for him.

As if that was not okay, the flight was rescheduled again, from 10.30 AM to 12 noon, from 12 noon to 1PM, from 1PM to 2 PM, until the aircraft he boarded, belonging to Air Peace, touched down at a few minutes to 3 PM.

Before this time, a large number of Lagos- and Abuja-bound angry passengers, including Germans, Israelis, Sri Lankans and Chinese, had filled the whole of the departure hall, shouting and barking at the counter-clerks of the airlines there, especially Air Peace, which was the most affected airline.

Another painful thing about the whole saga, was that most of those stranded passengers had no seat to sit. The very few available seats had been taken up. It was around 1.33 PM that some of the airport staffers managed to provide two extra seats for them, still leaving some standing.

Lest I forget, one of the daughters of Senator (Dr.) Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, the lovable governor of Delta State, and some of her relations were among those disappointed passengers.

They arrived the Asaba International Airport in the morning to travel to their destination, but when they were told that their flight had been rescheduled, they had to go back home and wait for the rescheduled time. They later returned to the airport in the afternoon, few minutes before my son’s arrival.

I was reliably informed that the aircraft that brought my son would take some passengers to Abuja and come back to Asaba to take the rest passengers to Lagos.

That meant that Lagos-bound passengers who were supposed to have left Asaba about 11 AM would now leave around 6 PM, which was more than seven (7) hours behind schedule. What a hopeless delay!

The most annoying side of those cancellations was the ugly way they were handle. None of the affected airlines bothered to make official announcements to that effect. When I went to desk of Air Peace to make inquiries, its staffer who attended to me, treated me as if I had come to him for a big favour.

A reliable source from one of the airlines at the Asaba international Airport told me that most of the airlines operating on Asaba-to-Abuja and Asaba-to-Lagos routes are fond of causing very painful delays and disappointing passengers who fly from Asaba to other places.

“They are fond of diverting aircrafts meant for Asaba-to-Abuja and Asaba-to-Lagos to other routes, including Lagos-to-Owerri, Lagos-to-Port Harcourt, and Lagos-to-Abuja,” disclosed my source.

“This happens for two reasons. One, because no powerful person is talking about it, and two, because passengers themselves are yet to riot concerning it.”

I overheard one of the disappointed passengers regretting and saying: “Oh my God, why did I come here? If I heard known, I would have travelled to either Owerri or Port Harcourt by road and fly from there. By now I would have since arrive Lagos.”

If many passengers begin to make this kind of statement and consequently stop flying from Asaba International Airport to other places, what do you think would become the fate of the Airport? Your guess is good as mine.

I am therefore using this opportunity to plead with operators of Air Peace, Aero Contractors, Overland Airways, and Air Arik at Asaba International Airports to please save the Airport from being called a bad name and from losing its patrons.

The government of Delta State has done so well in giving us a very strategic airport. Not too long ago, Governor Okowa spent so much money to renovate and rehabilitate it.

Why then would any airline or airlines choose to give it a bad name through careless disappointment of their passengers? Or do they pray for the Airport to die?

God forbids!  Asaba is such a beautiful and peaceful city in Nigeria that anybody would like to live in.    Please, let’s not create a bad name for Asaba International Airport.