Airlines, aviation agencies and service providers in the aviation industry are counting their losses following the closure of the Abuja airport to traffic following the aircraft incident involving a Saudi Arabian B747 which overshot the airport runway on Wednesday night resulting in the closure of the airport to traffic. “The airport has been closed to all arriving aircraft following the incident,” the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) said in a statement yesterday.
In response to the shutdown directive, all domestic airlines had cancelled their flights into the Abuja airport, just as international flights going into Abuja were diverted to Lagos.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had incurred losses from landing and parking charges usually paid by both local and international airlines. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) lost revenue it makes from air navigational charges paid to it by airlines for services it renders, just as the 5 per cent passenger service charges paid by airlines to the NCAA for each passenger it carries was also lost due to the shutdown of the airport.
The Abuja Airport is Nigeria’s second busiest airport after Lagos in terms of passenger and aircraft traffic. The greatest losers, perhaps, were the domestic airlines.
“About five domestic airlines fly into Abuja daily and the least of them operates a minimum of eight flights daily in and out of Abuja. The failure of domestic airlines to operate their flights for a whole day means a huge loss to them in terms of revenue from sales of air tickets to passengers,” one source said. “It is so sad that airport officials could not clear the cargo aircraft off the runway on time. It is even more worrisome that flights could be cancelled into an important infrastructure like Abuja airport due to the unavailability of a functional runway. “
Teresa Udowana, one of the stranded passengers in Abuja airport, who was scheduled to have come in from Abuja on an Arik Air flight to Lagos to travel to Atlanta, USA, yesterday via Delta Airline missed her flight. Udowana who lamented her ordeal as she couldn’t connect Abuja to Lagos early enough said more could have been done to clear the runway early enough on Thursday to allow normal flight operations.
The Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIPB) has commenced investigations into the incident and the preliminary report would be released as soon as possible. Hundreds of passengers were stranded following the incident and many of them at the Lagos Airport terminals had to make alternative arrangements to be able to make their journeys due to non-availability of flights to Abuja.
All aviation agencies including the FAAN, NAMA and aviation handling companies SAchol and NACHO have lost revenue from landing and parking fees, navigational charges and fees for passenger facilitations due to the closure of the airport.
FG reopens runway to traffic
Meanwhile, the aviation ministry yesterday evening confirmed that the B747 Saudi Air Cargo flight SVA 6814 that veered off the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday night about 22:12 hours local time has been successfully recovered to the apron and the airport reopened for normal flight operations.
It took the swift, combined emergency response effort of the aviation agencies (FAAN, NAMA, AIPB, NIMET, NCAA, NCAT), Customs, the security agencies and fire service personnel to accomplish the feat in record time.
Speaking to newsmen at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the airport shortly after completion of the exercise, managing director of NAMA Mazi Nnamdi Udoh praised the team effort of all those involved in the quick resolution of the situation, adding it was a measure of the readiness of all relevant authorities to respond to emergency situations in the aviation sector.
Military hardware in Saudi plane that overran Abuja airport runway
The Saudi Air cargo plane that overran the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and caused it temporary closure is believed to be carrying military hardware.
Some aviation workers told LEADERSHIP FRIDAY that the plane was carrying military hardware, which has compounded its evacuation from the runway.
Also, further investigations showed that the plane was carrying 15 armoured personnel carriers (APC) made in Russia. The hardware was ostensibly meant for the Nigerian military that is fighting what the International Criminal Court called a “civil war” with Boko Haram terrorists in the northern part of Nigeria. The connection between the Saudi plane and its Russian military cargo could not be established as at press time.
According to the general manager, public affairs, Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), Supo Atobatele, the Boeing 747 plane marked K74798 landed on the Abuja airport “runway 04 at 9:19 pm and rolled to the maintenance area of the air side causing substantial damage to its left wing. Six souls were onboard the aircraft and casualty is nil”. This led to the issuance of a NOTAM (notice to air men), which tells all pilots that the airport is closed to landing and takeoff.
However, LEADERSHIP FRIDAY checks revealed that the pilot of the plane had earlier radioed the airport authorities that the plane was having troubles and that preparations had been made for emergency landing. The plane landed but overran the runway into the field and ran into some construction equipment parked beside the runway. The equipment, an excavator, a truck, a roller... were being used by a construction company to expand the runway. The collision with the equipment damaged the plane’s wheels and the right engine, which caught fire but was quickly put out by the fire service. The wings of the plane blocked the runway and the incident happened less than 100 meters from the site of the new terminal being built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The plane was not rolled into any maintenance area as it blocked the only runway for takeoff and landing, causing the cancellation of all flight to and from Abuja airport. Flights not cancelled were diverted to Lagos and Kaduna airports.
Mr Joe Obi, the special assistant on media to the minister of aviation, Stella Oduah, said all efforts were being made to remove the plane from obstructing flights and that normal operations would commence as soon as the aircraft was removed.
Our correspondent who visited the airport saw cranes and other equipment from the construction giant Julius Berger moving the plane away from the tarmac. It was a tricky and arduous effort, given the plane’s volatile cargo and the extent of damage done by its collision with the construction equipment. However, about 3pm the rescue effort managed to move the plane, with its cargo still intact, out of the runway but it was still obstructing flights. Only chartered flights of small planes were able to take off and land, while the passenger planes could not.
Shortly after the incident, the director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu; managing director of NAMA, Engr. Mazi Nnamdi Udoh; managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, George Uriesi, and the commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau, Capt. Muhtar Usman, visited the airport to assess the situation.
Source: Leadership
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