The British Airways (BA) has attributed the inability to fly out of Nigeria to a technical fault in its airplane at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

The BA's Regional Commercial Manager Nigeria & Ghana, Mrs. Tutu Otuyalo, apologised for the delay to their flight, adding that the majority of customers had been re-accomodated on other flights.

The carrier noted that its team was working hard to book the remaining customers on a flight as soon as possible.

Otuyalo said, “We will cover accommodation and meal costs for customers. We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so. Most of the affected passengers have been re-accommodated to other flights.”

According to Aviation Metric, a source who revealed that the spares needed to replace the fault on the aircraft had already been flown to the country and were presently being fixed, while assuring that the passengers would be airlifted as soon as this was done.

While some of the affected passengers have been endorsed on other available carriers like Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and other carriers the BA has alliances with, others who could not be put on other airlines or other BA flights have all been put in hotels with their feeding and other needs taken care of.

The hitch, the source said, only affected the June 19 flight, as other flights by the same airline had been operating successfully.

Barring further delays, the remaining passengers may be flown out of the Lagos airport on Saturday.

The British Airlines flight number BA 74, which was scheduled to depart from Lagos to London at 10:50pm on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, suffered a hitch as the scheduled aircraft developed technical problems.

The flight was finally cancelled after 1am, with passengers being asked to cancel their immigration forms and go back to baggage claims to collect their already checked-in luggage.