Minister Of Aviation Reacts To Airlines Risking Passengers' Lives On Flight

Following a report by AllNews about the failure of the aviation authority to compel airlines to observe social distancing on the plane, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has explained why airlines didn't observe the COVID-19 preventive measures. He defended the action of the airlines.

AllNews had reported that the resumption of airline operations in Nigeria shows that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has no plan for safety on the flight, as the FAAN's COVID-19 measures and preparation is only for ground operation. While the aviation authority ensured social distancing before passengers were allowed to board the plane, the same action wasn't taken on the plane.

FAAN Didn't Include Social Distancing For Flights

In its guidelines for the reopening of the aviation sector, FAAN had released its guidelines for flight operations, among its measures, social distancing on flights was neglected, and an image proved this when flights resumed, with Air Peace running its operation like it was before the coronavirus was detected in Nigeria.

Airlines were expected to leave the middle seat vacant like buses were compelled to leave spaces in between passengers since the outbreak of the coronavirus, but Air Peace passengers were made to seat to full capacity - three each in a row. The disclosure that Air Peace didn't keep to social distancing on their plane led to criticism of the company.

Many Nigerians wondered why FAAN will approve social distancing before boarding the plane only to allow passengers to sit without the same protective measure applied on the plane.

Sirika Defends Airlines

While reacting to the report, Sirika said airplane is hygienic enough once passengers have their mask on. He also stated that not imposing physical distance on the plane made the flight affordable,  “Because of the nature of the airplane, the airplane is hygienic enough once you have your mask, you are safe to remain seated on your seat and where possible, we will keep the distance.

“Airplanes are designed in such a way that the ambient air at altitudes is clean. It is not contaminated. The air is dropped in the aircrafts, pressurised and because of pressurization, the temperature of the air goes up to 200 degrees which is twice boiling water and there is no bacteria or virus that can survive it and it is suddenly cooled to about 2 degrees centigrate and then it is passed to a filter.

“Passing through the filtration system ensures that every single organism is screened and then it is passed to the cabin and once it is passed through the cabin, it comes from the ceiling downwards. So, it is not coming from the cockpit to the rear, it is from the ceiling downwards and it drops on the floor and gets circulated.

“With this mechanism in place, everything will be safe provided that we are decontaminating the airplane before we enter and decontaminating after we leave and also cleaning all the possible surfaces that one will touch.”