Abuja Airport Is outdated, says Aviation Minister Amaechi

By Oru Leonard Oru-The Aviation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi said that the runway that you all know in Abuja was constructed to last for 20 years but have been there for 35 years,15 years on excess of the design of the runway lifespan. There is no major maintenance carried on that runway which had failed totally.

He recalled that when the Port Harcourt runway failed and shut down by itself, for nearly two years, flight operations were diverted without notice to Owerri, Enugu, Calabar, etc, and in those two years, we have were going to other airports as alternate airports with arrangement whatsoever to handle the hundreds of passengers that were coming to Port Harcourt as at then.

the runway in Abuja attempting to shut itself by failing at several points along the length and breadth of the runway and integrity test carried out and it was discovered that the structure of the runway has failed so the FGN decided to close down the operation of the airport for a period of six weeks to carry out repair in the critical portion.

Security is provided along the highway to ensure safety with patrol vehicles and armed personnel in every five kilometers both going and coming.

Senator Sarki said “So far, the progress of work at the Abuja runway is going on according to schedule and from tomorrow, I am going to put a huge countdown clock at the entrance of the airport and the construction site to show that we are serious. We will also put it on the contractor’s desk, the consultant also to remind them that six weeks is six weeks. After six weeks, we will move back to operations in Abuja while Kaduna remains. We got commitment from the contractor that the runway under repair would last in excess of ten years when completed.”

He also said that there would be a second runway in Abuja, in the next 24 months.

Kaduna Airport to to start an international flight direct to London of FGN is already talking to some Nigerian entrepreneurs and we are also talking to some international airlines that would provide the airplanes that we will use. Ethiopian airlines brought the newest Boeing aircraft and are flying to Kaduna and out and we thank them. They started with 80 passengers a day and it has been increasing because the market is there and to operate into Kaduna metropolis is secure.

In his remark, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Communication said that the purpose of the visit was to avail the media with the firsthand information and assess the level of arrangement that has been put in place to alleviate the inconveniences of passengers and airlines due to the temporary closure of the Abuja International airport for the purpose of reconstruction as against the erroneous belief that there is no need to close down the airport for runway repairs. He stressed that there is no alternative to closing down the airport as it needs a total reconstruction.

He also acknowledged that the closure has brought some hardship to people but government has strived to minimize the inconvenience.