ABUJA – By Paul Efiong
Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja runway will be ready ahead of schedule, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Saleh Dunoma has said.
He specifically told newsmen in Abuja, that the airport will be ready for operation on Monday, April 17, two days ahead of schedule April 19.
Dunoma said, “We will be ready by Monday the April 17 but we are leaving the remaining two days for Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), because they have to certify the airport that what we have done is in accordance with their standards. If they do that, we will bring in the traffic. But if they do not, we have the opportunity of making corrections with the two days we have saved.
“No doubt about that, we will open it as scheduled. Just as I have said, we have been working with NCAA throughout the period, they have been making corrections.
“But for formality, we need to check and make sure that all the necessary corrections meet the requirement of the civil aviation authority.
“All the critical items of work are 100 percent except may be two items, which of course is the markings and the cleaning. Other critical item which is not works but the inspection by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority who will come and certify that the repairs that had been carried out is satisfactory and give us the go ahead to bring in traffic to Abuja.
“Asphalt work is 100percent, markings have reached almost 70percent, the airfield lighting system has reached 80percent.
“There is additional work which has nothing to do with this repair but we are seizing the opportunity of the closure of the airport to do. This has to do with the APEX (Airport Excellence in Safety) related items.
“We are now levelling all the airfield lightings’ locations, all the installations and flash with the ground surface. In case of any skidding, there will not be concrete projection above the ground surface.”
The FAAN boss spoke more on the role of the NCAA, saying “We have written to them and they will come by 10 a.m. today ( April 16, 2017) to do the preliminary inspection.
“If there is any observation as a result of the inspection, we will now make sure we carry out corrections.”
He also spoke on the terminal building, saying “We are improving on all the services there and repairing all the items that are bad.”
Prompt News Online recalls that Abuja Airport was closed to air traffic on March 8, to pave way for complete repair of the runway.
While the repair work was progressing, both local and foreign flights were diverted to Kaduna airport.
However, only Ethiopian Airlines made use of the airport as other foreign airlines kept to their words not to fly to Kaduna, raising security concerns.
