Enugu Airport: Jinxed runway in search of solution

The continued closure of Enugu airport for constant repairs has raised concerns about the sincerity of permanently fixing the problem. It remains a mystery how this runway was fully rebuilt twice in ten years, 2009 and 2019, with the same mistakes made twice to rectify a simple engineering problem that has cost airlines, passengers and the airport authority lost time and revenue, writes WOLE SHADARE

Fresh closure

 The Akanu Ibiam International Airport was closed to traffic because of the bad portion of the runway. It surprised travellers because of a sudden decision by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to issue a statement on Saturday announcing the halt of operations at the aerodrome.

Air Peace was the first to suspend flights to Enugu, citing the poor state of the runway, which has undergone massive repairs in the last 15 years, but which problem is recurring now and then.

Airlines divert flights

Shortly after the FAAN decided to close the airport for two weeks of intense repairs, Ibom and United Nigeria Airlines also issued statements announcing the diversion of  Enugu flights to Anambra and Asaba airports.

What it means is that passengers travelling to Enugu but whose flights are now destined for Asaba and Anambra would have to drive from these two cities to Enugu, which is about a two-hour journey.

Enugu airport is one of the strategic aerodromes in the South East of the country. Before Asaba and Anambra airports were constructed recorded huge traffic. The building of these two airports took a massive hit on Enugu airport as passengers travelling to Asaba and Anambra had no choice but to go through the Enugu airport.

Enugu still remained important despite the success of the Owerri Airport, which ranks highly in terms of traffic.

Asaba, Anambra benefit from closure

With the temporary closure of Enugu airport runway for rehabilitation, the Asaba and Anambra Airports are poised to boom again, albeit temporarily. The Anambra Airport, despite its potential because of its location, has not been a success in terms of traffic.

 The Asaba and Anambra airports are close to each other, with Onitsha bridge said to separate the two aerodromes, which some said is less than 40 kilometres apart.

White elephant project

A former Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah had during her tenure caused work to commence on the runway, but shortly after work was completed, the entire airport was in a total mess, even in the face of her famed airport remodelling, which was shoddily done.

Images of a waterlogged runway flooded the cyberspace including trapping aircraft on the ground. Airlines raised safety alarms, and the airline managed to operate until 2018 or thereabout.

The runway was always flooded whenever there was rainfall, and many times, passengers had to remove their shoes, fold their trousers to walk up the tarmac for boarding.

The situation has not been resolved as the runway is still waterlogged, putting into question the competence of the construction firms engaged in the past to fix the problem.

Keyamo’s fear

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo while explaining the reasons for the closure of the airport said, “When we came to office, we discovered that waterlogged part of the runway was not properly constructed to take care of the problem, leading to constant cracks and potholes on the runway”.

“These obviously put the lives of the travelling public at great risk. We have been carrying out palliative works on it, but the problem has not abated, and the cracks on the runway are becoming craters”.

It is common knowledge that the deplorable state of public facilities poses a great concern to stakeholders.

Decrepit facilities

Facilities at Nigeria’s airports, hospitals, schools and roads, among others, give an indication that the society lacks an agent that would help manage and ensure effective and efficient functioning of the facilities as well foster national development. Such is the precarious state of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.

The aerodrome, some years back, lacked adequate fire-fighting cover, night landing facilities, an undulating, pot-hole riddled runway and decaying terminal facilities. The airport was badly managed.

The many years of patched job on the decaying facilities gave way to a total overhaul of the airport, which is very strategic to the people of South-East and commerce. At a time, it ranked as the fourth busiest airport in Nigeria. It is not yet known if it still maintains that position.

Enugu airport get fresh attention

Many summarised the Enugu Airport constant repairs as a scam on the country. This airport was huge risk to airlines. It was international in propaganda and not in facilities.

In 2018, massive construction work started on the very important airport situated right in the heart of South- East Nigeria.

The concern by the former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, all the South East Governors, the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Late Chief John Nwodo and Nnoli Nnaji, House of Reps Aviation Committee Chairman, made former President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently release N10 billion for the urgent fixing of facilities at the airport. 

The reopening of the airport came after about 370 days of intensive rehabilitation and extensive work on the runway. The runway was shut down on August 24, 2019 for complete rehabilitation.

Stakeholders’ view

Some stakeholders who spoke to Aviation Metric disclosed that the closure of the airport would bring additional pain and costs to people travelling to Enugu because of the enormous strain it would put on them to drive from either Asaba or Anambra airport to Enugu.

They urge the FAAN to hurry up repair works on the facilities so that airlines can quickly return to Enugu. The cited security issues as well as reason for the plea including reduction of accidents for people travelling between Enugu and Asaba to catch their flights.

Airlines too are equally affected by this ‘sudden’ closure of the aerodrome as they would have to make refund to passengers who may had made their bookings but decided to shelve it at least for now when the airport resumes flight services.

The logistics of their operations is equally affected as they made frantic effort to inform passengers of the change in their operations.

Recurring problem

Former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd) said, first, it is necessary to know the load classification Number (LCN) of the runway and the type of aircraft that can use the facility, adding that it would also determine the periodic maintenance programming depending on the number of landings.

Ojikutu further stated that rather than constant repair work, he urged FAAN to begin total reconstruction of the runway, noting that there is a lot for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to do on the runway and others too.

Another stakeholder who preferred anonymity said, “Enugu airport has one major problem. The airport is built on land filled with coal. The airport shouldn’t have been built on that site abnitio. That is why it is extremely expensive to sink a borehole at the airport”.

The Chief Operating Officer of Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi stated that the peculiarity of the topography of Enugu does not stop any one from building a proper runway, stressing that there is a specification for a proper runway to be built.

According to him, “It remains a mystery how this runway was fully rebuilt twice in ten years, 2009 and 2019, with the same mistakes made.”

Last line

Uriesi

There is a need for a permanent solution to the recurring problem of the Enugu airport runway, which has necessitated constant closure of the aerodrome.

Wole Shadare