NCAA grounds British Airways flight

Aviation Nigeria

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has grounded a British Airways aircraft due to operational reasons.

The Acting Director-General Dr. Joyce Nkemakolam, in a message to newsmen said that the aircraft had a snag.

“The airline notified NCAA and it was grounded" she said.

The Country Manager, British Airways Kola Olayinka, confirmed the development in a press statement released on Monday in Lagos.

The statement released by Chidiebere Onuorha says British Airways confirms that its Abuja-London flight was stopped due to operational reasons and at the moment, the parts to fix the problem are being flown from London  Monday night and the flight will operate Tuesday to new timings.

All British Airways passengers have been looked after according to our Operational Standard Procedures the statement noted. “British Airways flight 083 scheduled to depart London tonight is operating normally,” the statement said.

The aircraft was said to be scheduled for London from Abuja when the technical snag was discovered leading the airline to disembark its passengers.

Reports says the British Airways flight to London was preparing to take off when the right engine of the plane stopped working while passengers were all boarded.

Over 250 flights cancelled in Heathrow due to extreme weather condition

Aviation Nigeria

More than 250 flights were cancelled at Heathrow as forecasters warn of just 2cm of snow. A statement from the airport said: 'Latest forecasts showed a 'high probability of around 2-6cm of accumulating snow and low visibility at periods throughout the day.

Stranded passengers were forced to sleep on terminal floors after severe weather saw hundreds of flights cancelled over the weekend. Travellers vented their frustration about the cancellations.

Heathrow, which typically handles 1,300 flights a day, said the cancellations were necessary because there is low visibility, so more space has to be left between aircraft. British Airways, Air France, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and TAP Portugal flights have been affected.

Many airports have plenty of spare runway capacity so aircraft can be spaced out more during low visibility without causing delays and cancellations. Because Heathrow operates at almost full capacity, there is simply no room to reschedule the delayed flights.

A Heathrow spokeswoman added: 'The airport is running quite smoothly because of these cancelled 

flights. We will keep monitoring the situation.'

The airport will announce if and how many flights will be cancelled later today. BA has already sent apologies to customers saying it was doing everything it could to help those whose flights have been disrupted by the weather.

More than 100 Heathrow flights – 67 of them departures – were grounded yesterday after 440 were cancelled on Friday because of the weather.

Former Transport Minister Lord Adonis yesterday said: ‘There are still big concerns about the resilience of Heathrow. Any passengers experiencing delays and cancellations will not be impressed when they see other airports operating more effectively.’

A total of £36 million has been spent upgrading Heathrow’s winter weather equipment over the past two years, more than doubling the number of snow-clearing vehicles to 130.

But it still had to shut its northern runway for more than an hour on Friday morning so snowploughs could clear it of snow and ice.