First Nation Airways Blames FAAN For Aircraft Collision

First Nation Airways has blamed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) officials for the collision of two of its Airbus 330 planes which had about 250 passengers and crew members on board when the accident happened recently at the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2), Lagos, although no casualty was recorded.


The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a similar incident had occurred at the airport on July 6, following the collision of two aircraft belonging to Emirates and Hak Air.
NAN gathered that Friday’s incident which happened at about mid-day involved two Airbus 330 conveying not fewer than 250 passengers which had their bodies partially damaged as a result of the collision.

The super sonic  airline, in a statement recently, said if FAAN officials were diligent, the incident would have been avoided.

First Nation, in the statement signed by its spokesman, Mr Rasheed Yusuf said, “This incident is avoidable if the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria marshallers had been diligent to avoid marshalling the aircraft wrongly.

“We urge the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to retrain the marshallers as we understand that the marshallers at MMA2 are deployed by FAAN under an MOU with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, the operator of MMA2, Ikeja. It is important to emphasise that at no time was the safety of passengers at risk.”

But FAAN, in a swift reaction to the airline’s statement, said it was handling the matter with the professionalism that it requires, having referred the incident to the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).


FAAN’s spokesman, Mr Yakubu Dati, however, said the AIB is already investigating the matter, as he appealed for restrain as it would be “immature and unprofessional to hazard a guess” on the cause of the accident.

“Aviation has standards and regulations. We refuse to be dragged into motor park rantings,” he said in a message to LEADERSHIP Sunday while reacting to the airline’s allegations.

“First Nation Airways since launch in 2011 continues to build high standard of operation with safety as the airline’s essential focus.”