Turkish Airlines resumes operations after picketing, to airlift stranded passengers

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) early Thursday morning brokered peace between the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and European carrier, Turkish Airlines, allowing the airline to resume flight operations.

The intervention will also allow the airline airlift its Nigeria passengers who have been stranded at the International wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos following the picketing of the airline by NUATE on Tuesday.

Following the NCAA intervention, NUATE has temporarily agreed to shelve further interruption of Turkish Airlines operations in Lagos and Abuja to allow the airlift of stranded passengers both inbound and outbound from across the world.

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The agreement was reached after a meeting with Michael Achimugu, the representative of the Acting Director General Civil Aviation, who is also the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA.

Achimugu had on Wednesday evening after meeting with the Country Manager of Turkish Airlines in Nigeria promised to meet with the union on Thursday to resolve the impasse.

The meeting had representatives of NUATE led by Ochema Aba, its General Secretary, Bukola Teriba, the Regional Manager of NCAA, among others.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.