Operators of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), yesterday, said that its Abuja-bound flight was diverted to the Asaba International Airport due to poor weather at its destinations.

The explanation was in response to feelers from on-board passengers that the Lagos-Abuja flight perhaps missed its way, when crew announced arrival at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport while the actual location was Asaba International Airport, Asaba, Delta State.

The inaccurate report of destination threw passengers into confusion, and in turn elicited a flurry of negative comments in the social media. UNA’s Head of Corporate Communications, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, however, said that the diversion was in order, but for an error on the part of the crew on arrival at Asaba.

Uchegbu noted that the flight NUA 0504, operating from the Murtala Muhammad Airport II terminal (MMA2) in Lagos, made the temporary diversion to Asaba International Airport for safety reasons. He said: “The pilot of the aircraft was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed.

“However, a wrong announcement was made by the cabin crew upon landing safely in Asaba, creating confusion among the passengers.” Uchegbu added that the aircraft later landed safely in Abuja following improvement on destination weather.

Indeed, global commercial aviation is not new to occasional errors in flight plans. It will be recalled that a while ago, a British Airways flight destined for Düsseldorf in Germany landed in Edinburgh by mistake, after the flight paperwork was submitted incorrectly.

The passengers only realised the error when the plane landed and the “welcome to Edinburgh” announcement was made. The plane, which started at London’s City Airport, was then redirected and landed in Düsseldorf. WDL Aviation ran the BA flight through a leasing deal.