Drama and confusion as Nigerian flight lands in the wrong city

The flight, NUA 0504, took off on Sunday from the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Terminal 2, and was headed for Abuja but landed in another city instead, Asaba. 

United Nigeria Airlines, on Sunday, said the Lagos-Abuja flight was diverted to Asaba, Delta State capital, due to poor weather conditions.

Despite the crew announcing to the travelers that they had landed in Abuja, the pilot had, in fact, grounded the aircraft at the Asaba International Airport, causing some confusion among the passengers.

A user on X (formerly Twitter), @dawisu, tweeted that the pilot was given the wrong flight plan from Lagos.

“Nigeria my country. We departed Lagos about an hour ago on @flyunitedng to Abuja, and upon arrival, the cabin crew confidently announced that we’ve arrived Abuja, only for us to realize that we landed in Asaba. Apparently, our pilot was given wrong flight plan from Lagos.”

However, the airline, through its Head, Corporate Services, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, said the flight diversion was due to “poor destination weather.”

The statement read in parts, “A United Nigeria Airlines flight, NUA 0504, operating from the MM2 in Lagos en route Abuja on Sunday, November 26, 2023, was temporarily diverted to the Asaba International Airport due to poor destination weather. At all material time, the pilot of the aircraft was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed."

“However, a wrong announcement was made by cabin crew upon landing safely in Asaba, creating confusion among the passengers.”

Uchegbu added, “Meanwhile, the aircraft has landed safely in Abuja following improvement on destination weather."

The incident caused a hilarious discussion on X with many people decrying Nigeria's state of affairs.

When someone asked, "The pilot no remember the route?" Dawisu replied, ''He's a white man apparently!"

User @Ebele said," When you tell people you can’t explain Nigeria to them without looking crazy and they ask what you mean, show them this tweet."

Another user @FarhiyaAbass said, "There are African problems and then there are Nigerian problems!"

Back in 2019, Nigerian airline AeroContractors was accused of flying passengers halfway then putting them into a bus to continue the rest of the journey.

Two weeks ago, Boeing 737 aircraft  belonging to the same airline (Aero Contractors) was involved in a serious incident at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja after it's nose wheel got stuck in the grass immediately after landing.

Consequently, the runway was closed as authorities worked on the towing of the aircraft from the runway to enable other aircraft to fly out and in of Abuja.