Two aircraft belonging to Air Peace Limited had a ground collision,
on Thursday, while one of them was trying to maneuver its way out at the
apron wing of the local terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MM2)
Ikeja, Lagos.
The incident, which occurred barely 48 hours after
an Aero Contractors aircraft was engulfed in smoke while attempting to
land at the Lagos airport, has raised serious safety questions on the
local airline industry.
Spokesman for Air Peace, Mr. Chris Iwarah,
who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the airline had taken a
precautionary decision to stop the affected aircraft from flying.
Said
Iwara, “We confirm that at about 6.15am today, the winglet of our B737
aircraft with registration mark 5N-BQR, which was being towed within the
very limited space at the ramp of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos
to position for departure, had a partial contact with the stabiliser of
another of our B737 aircraft with registration mark 5N-BQP.”
“Although
the points of contact of the two aircraft were only slightly impacted,
we took the cautious decision to declare them unserviceable to enable
proper investigation of the incident, checks and repair by our
Engineering and Maintenance Department in line with our high safety
standards.“There
were no passengers on the two aircraft involved in the incident.
We
have also revised our flight schedule to cater to our esteemed guests on
the 14 sectors the two aircraft were scheduled to service today.
“At
the moment, everything is working according to plan and our engineers
have already begun repair of the aircraft,” Iwara added.
It would
be recalled that about a year ago, two aircraft (Airbus 310) belonging
to FirstNation, also brushed each other’s wings at the airport.
It
would also be recalled that within the same period, an Emirates
aircraft, Boeing 777-200 with over 300 passengers onboard had a ground
collision with Hak Air aircraft parked at the apron.
The Emirates
aircraft, with the flight number EK782 Lagos to Dubai had its right hand
wingtip with contact with the tail of a Hak Air aircraft parked at the
apron of the airport. Some industry analysts have pointed out the need
to do a further expansion work on the apron of the Lagos airport to
accommodate more aircraft and end the many incidents of aircraft
collision.
