…Insists on physical screening of passengers
There was fracas today at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport between aviation security personnel and Delta Air Lines as the carrier flouted the federal government’s executive order on the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by insisting that its Nigerian passengers should be physically examined.
It was learnt that the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), led by its managing director, Mr. Saleh Dunoma had directed the security agencies to remove their screening tables from the airlines’ counters.
While the security agencies reluctantly complied with the order, Delta Air Lines insisted that the luggage of its passengers must be check-in manually.
It threatened that without the manual screening of passengers, it would stop the passengers from boarding the flight.
It was learnt that Dunoma had earlier in the day held a meeting with some of his management staff where he informed them of the plans to fully implement the federal government’s executive order.
A source told News Gazette that the airline had vehemently resisted the removal of the tables by its check-in counters by Aviation Security (AVSEC), insisting that it would not allow the implementation of the executive order.
“The resistance almost led to fisticuffs between the two organisations until the airport manager intervened and called the two parties to a meeting in his office.
“The airline insisted that its staff must manually carry out the screening of passengers after a machine has screened their luggage at the entrance of the terminal.
“They said that was the order they received from their home country. They even threatened to stop processing of Nigerian passengers if the agency did not allow them to manually screen the passengers,” said the source.
In a telephone interview, the spokesman for FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu said the airline’s officials and FAAN’s aviation security personnel were having a meeting on the issue.