Bad weather: Kano, Kaduna bound flights diverted

Inclement weather on Monday forced aircraft to be diverted from Kano and Kaduna airports to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Many prominent Nigerians who were billed to attend the 12th Bola Tinubu Colloquium could not travel by air. Many of them went by road for the much advertised event scheduled for Kano.

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) however cited adverse weather condition as the reason aircraft could not operate to the city and Kaduna on Monday. Flights to the two major cities were diverted to the Abuja airport.

A source from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) told Aviation Metric that the prevailing meteorological condition fell below the prescribed weather minima for the airports.

The source said flights had to be diverted in the airports because it was not safe to initiate any landing or take off of any flight when the weather is below the internationally prescribed minima.

Weather minima are criteria, determined by airline operators, that govern whether a particular aircraft under the control of a particular pilot may take off or land at a particular civil aerodrome. They include runway visual range and critical height for a landing and runway visual range and cloud ceiling for takeoff.

A weather minima in aviation parlance is the conducive meteorological condition safe for flight operations in any aerodrome.

Many prominent Nigerians, including Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and Governors couldn’t fly to Kano on Monday to attend the 12th Bola Tinubu Colloquium.

The source said: “There was nothing unusual about flights into Kano Airport on Monday. The authorities gave instructions for flight diversion when the prevailing weather condition was below the standard approved for any flights at such airports.

Apart from Kano airport that was hit by bad weather, many airlines could not operate flights to Kaduna as the flights were diverted to Abuja airport.

“Pilots understand this very well and will take the safety decision to avoid any untoward development.”

Wole Shadare