3.6km Abuja airport runway: only 2.4 km available, says ART

*Backs closure, knocks NCAA, FAAN

Nigerian aviation industry pressure group, Aviation Round Table (ART) has taken a holistic assessment of the decision  to shut down the Abuja aerodrome and came with a verdict that the airport needs to closed to carry out comprehensive work.

The group faulted calls that the airport should not be shut but managed to allow smaller aircraft to land. It said that out of the 3.6km runway at NAIA, only 2.4km is currently available.

This therefore makes it unsafe and impracticable to divide the runway into two and still continue to operate on one section while work proceeds on the other section.

It also said the call for a second runway at Abuja is unnecessary at this time in view of the fact that the current runway is underutilized.

The group in a statement by its Chairman, Elder Gbenga Olowo carpeted the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for its docility and failure in ensuring that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) religiously complies with the Runway Maintenance Programme for NAIA, which is an operational safety requirement.

Olowo cited the London Gatwick Airport which is a single runway airport that began commercial operations since 1933 and has never been closed in 84 years.

The Gatwick runway length is 3.3km as against that of Abuja which is 3.6km. Between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 alone, Gatwick had a total of 271,071 aircraft movements comprising 135,536 departures/takeoff and 135,535 arrivals/landings.

He urged FAAN to ensure that it develops a Runway Maintenance Programme approved by NCAA if none is currently available.

“NCAA on the other hand must through regular oversight, ensure FAAN’s compliance with approved Runway Maintenance Programme. Furthermore, the Runway Maintenance Programme must be factored on periodic number of landings rather than on the age of the runway. Finally, Periodic Runway Maintenance Programme would make repairs & maintenance possible if the Runway Maintenance Programme is regularly implemented.

The body stated that the failure of FAAN to strictly follow the Runway Maintenance Programme and conduct regular repairs and rehabilitation of the runway as at when due coupled with the lethargic oversight of NCAA effectively contributed in bringing the situation to where it is today.

The decision as to whether a runway should be closed or not, he reiterated rests within the purview of NCAA as provided for in the Act establishing the Regulatory Agency and not the Executive arm of government.

His words, “Unfortunately, constant political interference by the Executive arm of government and the Ministry, continues to usurp the role of NCAA and has hampered its effectiveness especially the current Director General.”

ART therefore challenge the NCAA to be alive to its responsibility of safety oversight by conducting a thorough assessment of the status of all the runways at the various airports in the country in an effort to correct the problems immediately and give each of them a clean bill of health in order to forestall a reoccurrence of the Abuja saga.

Closure of NAIA Runway, according to Olowo, no doubt has serious safety, security and cost implications, adding that local and international passengers would have to face the great inconvenience of travelling by road from Kaduna to Abuja amidst several security uncertainties. Airlines, service providers, employees and the national economy will all be negatively impacted by the closure.

In view of the pains and untold hardships the closure will inevitably bring with it, ART said it is concerned and hope that the project will be completed on schedule within the stipulated six weeks in order to reduce the pains, burden and costs to the people of Nigeria, the economy and the international community who do business in Nigeria.

He urged airlines to take advantage of the situation by increasing their flights to Kaduna from Lagos and other major cities in the light of the closure of Abuja airport.

Wole Shadare