Normal
aviation services resumed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,
(NAIA), Abuja yesterday as the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi
Sirika, re-opened the facilities a day earlier than the April 19
schedule.
The airport was shut for six weeks to enable the
contractor repair its failed runway with Abuja-bound air traffic
diverted to Kaduna during the period.
Sirika, while addressing
newsmen in Abuja, said he decided to reopen the airport since the runway
rehabilitation had been completed on schedule.
An airplane of the
Nigerian Police with registration 5N-HAR airlifted Sirika and some
officials to the airport from Kaduna on a test-run of the rehabilitated
runway.
By noon, an Ethiopian Airline Airbus 350 aircraft touched
down amid fanfare, signaling the commencement of commercial flight
operations to Abuja.
Med-View Airlines’ Chief Operating Officer
(COO), Lookman Animashaun, said the re-opening was a relief to the
airline and had immediately started operations to the nation’s capital
with six flights from Lagos daily.
Account Manager of Dana Air,
Obi Mbanuzuo, hinted that the airline would from today, operate five
frequencies on Lagos-Abuja route daily, while Kaduna will be a flight
per day.
Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu,
said it had also re-opened its daily flights between Abuja and Lagos,
while other destinations like Ilorin, Ibadan, Gombe, Yola, Sokoto,
Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Accra (Ghana) are due to be connected from
Abuja.
Sirika
said the runway is now in perfect shape, having landed on it. “The
final exercise, the friction test was carried out this morning and they
found out that it meets international standard, the International Civil
Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Standard and Recommended Practices
(SARPs).”
Passengers aboard the Ethiopian airline expressed
excitement over the re-opening. One who arrived from India aboard the
airline, Quadri Nihinlola said: “The airport is very okay.”
Another, Ibrahim Tafida maintained that landing on the runway was very smooth. “No bumps, unlike before.”
Meanwhile,
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday commended the efforts of the
relevant ministries, the security agencies, Kaduna State government, the
contractor, Julius Berger, and others, over the successful completion
of the repair, 24 hours ahead of the time limit.
The president, in
a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi
Adesina, said that he looked forward to such display of inter-agency
cooperation and efficiency in the operation of the entire Federal
Government machinery.
Buhari, according to Adesina, also expressed
appreciation to Ethiopian Airlines for cooperating with the Federal
Government during the period of the closure, describing it as a good
example of intra-African cooperation.
