Airline Operators Resume Flights to Abuja Airport Today

Excited by the work done on the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the Federal Government on Tuesday reopened the air­port for operations ahead of the April 19 date it earlier set for the exercise.
Consequently, most do­mestic and international air­lines have scheduled their flights into the airport today.
Among the local airlines to fly into the airport today are Dana Air, Arik Air and Peace Air.

Already, Ethiopian Airlines are the first international out­fit that flew into the airport on Tuesday.
The airline’s plane landed at the Airport from Addis Aba­ba, signalling the resumption of commercial flights at the air­port which was shut for repairs of the runway for six weeks.
The Ethiopian Airbus A350 XWB aircraft landed the air­port at 12:07pm yesterday.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Siri­ka, had a test flight on board a Police aircraft, making first landing in Abuja at 11:05am.
Sirika told newsmen that today is the due date for the opening of the airport but due to earlier delivery than antici­pated, there was nothing wrong with opening the runway a day earlier as the target had been achieved.
He explained that other works like the taxiway mark­ings are still ongoing, but re­marked that “it is a non-critical routine” that would continue but the critical safety matters have been dealt with, the run­way has been completed and is in perfect shape.
He said: “I just landed now on the same runway, the final exercise was this morning and the friction test was carried out and found that it meets in­ternational standard and the ICAO standard and recom­mended practices.
“So, the runway is safe, it’s perfect and we thank all of you for bearing with us. We are not celebrating because we set out a target,” he stated.
Some of the passengers on board the Ethiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa, who spoke to The AUTHORITY, acknowl­edged that landing at the air­port was smooth unlike their previous bumpy-landing ex­periences.
Mr. Ibrahim Dikko, one of the passengers, said that he and his co-travellers were elated when they were told that they would be landing at the Abu­ja Airport instead of the Kadu­na Airport
Sources at the Airport how­ever revealed that the govern­ment had to change its earli­er plan to avoid giving British Airways the chance to be the first to land at the airport as it was of customary of the air­line to arrive at Abuja Airport at 5am.
Many international air­lines, including British Airways had refused to fly into Kaduna Airport during the closure of the Abuja Airport.
Meanwhile, President Mu­hammadu Buhari has com­mended the efforts of all stakeholders for ensuring the renovation and reopening of the airport, 24 hours ahead of schedule.
A Presidency statement said that he particularly com­mended the Ministries of Transport, Power, Works and Housing; the security agencies; the Kaduna State government; the contractor, Julius Berger, on the successful completion of work, a day before the April 19th deadline.
Impressed by this, the Pres­ident said that he looked for­ward to such “display of in­ter-agency cooperation and efficiency in the operation of the entire Federal Government machinery”.
The President also thanked Ethiopian Airlines for cooper­ating with the Nigerian govern­ment during the period of the closure of Abuja Airport, de­scribing it as a good example of Intra-African cooperation, added the statement issued by Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina.