THE British Airways yesterday cancelled a flight from London Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom, bound for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, over terror alert.
Checks by The ICIR on Flightradar24, a global flight tracking service, showed that British Airways’s Boeing 777-236 (ER) flight expected to land in Abuja by 4:40am did not leave London for Nigeria.
A similar flight on October 27 on its Boeing 777-36N (ER) was diverted to Lagos instead of Abuja.
This is coming during a period where the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Bulgaria had all issued travel advisories to their citizens against travel to Nigeria.
The countries warned of likely terrorist attacks in Nigeria, especially in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
As a result of this warning, troops of the United States (US) Army collaborated with operatives of the Nigerian Department of State Service (DSS) to carry out a raid on Trademore Estate in the Lugbe area of Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari has, however, dismissed these warnings, stressing that the security alerts were not peculiar to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the British Airways regional commercial manager for West Africa, Adetutu Otuyalo, stated that the airline was working closely with government authorities following the Foreign Commonwealth Office advice against all but essential travel to Abuja.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Otuyalo said.
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