10th June, 2012
Some of the runway lights at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja which were out of order on Friday night have now been repaired.
The Special Assistant to Princess Stella Oduah, the Minister of Aviation, Mr Joe Obi, disclosed this in Abuja.
Obi said the defect on the runway lighting system was corrected on Saturday.
The problem with the runway light caused some international and domestic airlines to delay, cancel or divert their flights on Friday.
The special assistant, however, said the runway blackout happened due to some routine maintenance work being undertaken by a construction firm on the runway.
He said that it was in the course of the maintenance work that some of the runway lights were tampered with.
Obi added that ‘for safety reasons, some of the flights were advised to be diverted to other routes for landing. ”
“This situation has been corrected, normal operations will begin from today (Saturday),” he said.
Mr Akin Olukunle, the spokesman of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), also confirmed the incident.
He told NAN that the blackout made it impossible for some international flights to land in Abuja.
Mr Chris Bature, the airport General Manager of FAAN, also said that though some airlines where able to land, Lufthansa airline decided to return to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
“Some of the domestic airlines like IRS, Aero Contractor and Arik Air delayed their flights but a British Airways flight landed at about 5a.m on Saturday,’’ Bature said.
Dr Harold Demuren, the Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who also spoke to NAN, said the situation should be addressed by the National Airspace Management Agency and FAAN.