Many passengers were yesterday stranded as air traffic controllers under the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) withdrew their services from airlines.
As early as 7a.m, armed policemen from the airport police command were at strategic positions of the airport including NAMA head office to maintain law and order, while the unions carried out their industrial action after threatening to shut the airspace over non-implementation of salary structure.
BusinessDay learnt that the control tower was manned by men from the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) and senior management staff of the agency in a bid to mitigate the situation.
It was learnt that Aero 8.30a.m flight to Abuja was still on ground as at 11.30a.m because it was not given start-up clearance by the air traffic controllers (ATC) at the control tower, while international flights that were supposed to land at the international terminal of the Lagos airport were diverted to Niger Republic and Senegal.
SADE WILLIAMS
