Passengers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) in Lagos vented their anger and frustration on airport equipment and airline check-in counters after a series of flight cancellations.
The incident occurred on February 12, 2024 at around 18:00 local time, after Nigerian airline Dana Air announced the cancellation of two flights bound for Port Harcourt Airport (PHC) and Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport (QOW) in Owerri. Both flights were originally scheduled to depart at noon.
Nigerian media outlets reported that Dana Air officials informed waiting passengers that flights that had been postponed from February 11, 2024 would be departing on February 12, 2024 at 10:00 and 12:00 noon.
One of the frustrated passengers took to X (formerly Twitter) to post about the cancellations that stretched from 08:00 to 20:00
“Unfortunately, around 6 PM, Dana announced more cancellations with no concrete plan on refunds or rebookings. That is when the furious passengers started vandalizing airport property,” an aviation official told local media outlets.
“Some passengers had been waiting since yesterday after their initial flights were canceled. They were promised the flights would depart today, but after over three hours of further delays, there were more cancellations,” the official added.
Witnesses told Nigerian media that several passengers started disconnecting the airline’s check-in computers, and that some airline staff were also “roughed up” by the angry crowd.
Airport security eventually took control of the situation, and the enraged passengers were able to depart to their destinations at 21:00 local time.