The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ordered Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations into Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a letter from the Acting Diriector-General of the NCAA, Abdullahi Sidi to Turkish Airlines. The letter was published by the Federal Ministry of Aviation on Thursday.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority gave the directive to Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations until it was ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that could transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time.

This directive is a result of recent cases  where Turkish Airlines  failed to bring in passengers and their checked-in baggage together  into Nigeria.

NCAA’s  Acting DG said the incidents had become so bad that most recent Turkish Airlines flights arrived in Nigeria without more than 85 per cent of passengers’ baggage on board.

He said: “Our airport authority has been facing a serious crisis controlling the passengers at the airport whenever they arrive without their baggage. This issue has made passengers to carry out several mob actions at our airports and it is a great threat to our airport facilities.

“In view of all these, and a series of meetings held with the Turkish Airlines personnel, which did not yield any solution to this problem, the NCAA is therefore left with no option than to direct Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations into Nigeria until such a time when the airline is ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that can transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time.

“If no remedial action is carried out by your airline, this suspension shall be effective from the 16th of December, 2019.”