NigerianFLIGHTDECK Travel and Business Reportage 
- Groan over airlines’ staff inability to accept payment via POS
- Dana, Air Peace, Medview join Kaduna route, destination bubbles
ALTHOUGH Kaduna has turned into a beehive of activities with the commencement of flights that were diverted from Abuja, with security beefed up and economic activities reaching their peak, air travelers seem to be groaning from the lack of banking facilities in and/or close to the Airport describing it as an anomaly.
Nigerianflightdeck was in Abuja and also felt the impact of this situation at the airport that was built to handle flights coming from Abuja could not help but notice the way most passengers were looking lost as regards how to access cash especially as the country has been talking of going cashless for almost 10 years.
Airlines at the airport do not even have POS Machines for people to buy tickets with and even one airline decided to hike its price exponentially because passengers were to pay with cash, claiming they have closed their counter.
The fact that there are no banks operating from that airport does not make the story any easier to bear according to Steven who just landed and needed to access cash for various activities but found to his dismay that he could not.
Steven told our reporter,” I have turned to a mendicant for money as I have no choice, how did I get my ticket? I transferred to someone who had cash and she borrowed me. But what if I had no such facility? Government should do something about this it isn’t about diverting flights to this place.”
“ If I did not get this money from that lady, I would have died of hunger especially if I sent and she did not see an alert only for me to go and be told my money had been debited. Even getting food fa, is another issue, the place may be looking fine but it isn’t ready to take the influx at once.”
” If we are to run this airport as an international airport, safety is good but the convenience to transact business is key as nothing can move fluidly without that and things like not having POS or using banks’ ATMs will only give some airline staff the opportunity to pilfer their company money and run them aground or worse,” he said.
Another respondent explained that Nigerians are not planners, they were instant travellers and sometimes even but tickets a few minutes before flying stating that the fact that there is no place where they can access cash from the airport makes it difficult for them to fly and called on government to rectify this.
Nigerianflightdeck in a bid to get a ticket back discovered to its dismay that there wasn’t anywhere to get money, the nearest bank was in town in fact the nearest vending machine was in town and the airline on ground as at Wednesday evening had no POS and was insisting on cash.
This caused this reporter to be stranded the night as he could not afford any of the easy luxury, even hotels called were insisting on cash and so we were stranded till our outfit got external help to leave Kaduna this morning.
However, despite the obvious need for banks and Automated teller Machines (ATMs) at the Kaduna Airport, security was top-notch especially in and around the Kaduna International Airport following the commencement of international flights into the airport.
Policemen were drafted to strategic points from the airport to Rigasa, the rail station and the Kaduna-Abuja high way and also mobile policemen, the Federal Road Safety Corps officials, and men of the Nigerian Immigration Service were also deployed while ambulances were also positioned at strategic locations between Kaduna and the Abuja highway.
Civil Defense Corps and the Anti terrorism squad were also positioned to accompany train to and from Kaduna in all its trips.
Domestic airlines as at this morning had also started trooping into Kaduna and traffic was exceptionally good compared to what Kaduna was used too.
Dana Air, Air Peace, Medview, Azman and Arik were on ground dropping and picking their travelers to their various destinations.
Dana had a flight to Lagos from Kaduna at 11am, 1pm and also another at 8.30pm while Air Peace flew at 9.20a,, 1.50pm and has another flight for 4.50 pm all Lagos bound.
Our reporter gathered that the airlines were also flying direct from other routes into Kaduna like from Port Harcourt, Kano, Yola and other places.
Nigerian flightdeck learnt that all intending passengers have been provided with free bus services from the airport to railway stations and Abuja as all the domestic airlines yesterday began full flight operations in and out of the Kaduna International to various destinations across the country.
