Harmattan haze: Airports ‘shut’ as airlines make air return, flights aborted
*Lagos airport not shut-FAAN
Airlines made air return to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and other airports after poor visibility, occasioned by harmattan haze prevented their aircraft from landing.
Woleshadare.net learnt that visibility reduced to less than 40 meters, which was below weather minimal which makes it dangerous for aircraft to take off or land. The acceptable weather minimum level is 100 meter.
Spokesman for Dana, Kingsley Ezeanyanwu confirmed the incident, saying the aircraft billed to go to Port-Harcourt at 2pm took off at 7.20pm when visibility improved.
As a result of this development, a Dana Airline flight from Abuja to Lagos, around 2pm, was aborted about 20 minutes from landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) and was said to have been told to return to Abuja. The aircraft eventually landed in Lagos.
A medview Airline flight from Abuja to Lagos was said to have suffered a similar fate.
It was also learnt that a scheduled flight to Sokoto, which was boarded at about 4 pm eventually failed to depart Abuja as passengers were disembarked about 5 pm.
The passengers on the aborted flight said the airline had earlier announced that they were about 12 minutes away from landing Kaduna, but shortly announced that they were returning to base because the airport had been shut down due to poor visibility.
Ironically, international airlines were not affected as they landed without stress because of the equipment they carry on their plane which makes their airplanes to land on zero visibility.
Some of the aircraft in operations in Nigeria have the equipment, but they have decided not to take risks and do not want to flout regulations which mandated them not to fly within poor visibility envelope.
He said virtually all airlines suffered similar fate because of the terrible weather condition which made flight operations difficult and dangerous.
Ezeanyanwu also said that at a point, the Lagos airport also witness similar fate as aircraft could not land at the Lagos airport due to the situation.
Acting General Manager Public Communications, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu told our correspondent that the prevailing weather situation in the country led to flight disruption but denied that the Lagos aerodrome was shut to traffic.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded at various airports as a result of the situation.
Just recently, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) warned airlines of harmattan haze sweeping across the country, saying that this weather condition compels airlines to delay or cancel scheduled flights whenever horizontal visibility falls below the stipulated minima.
The Director-General of NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom said occasional outbreak of dust which will reduce horizontal visibility significantly to 1000m and below in some places was predicted.
He also stated that the expected increase in concentration of the dust particles would lead to colder and drier atmosphere as well as increase in incidences of respiratory disorder.
In the course of monitoring the weather situation in and outside Nigeria, he said NiMet has observed that in the past 24 hours, dust has been raised over the source regions in Niger/Chad republic which will be transported by northeast trade winds into and across the country.
Google+