BY Damilare Adeleye
Barr. Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has apologised for the flight disruptions at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, which affected operations across the country.
It was reported that services were abruptly stopped at the airport on Sunday following a runway incursion involving an Aerocontractors plane.
Reports indicated that the plane, which was on a Lagos-Abuja flight, landed and was taxiing on Runway A4 when its nose wheel got stuck on the ground.
Meanwhile, no passengers were injured as they were all safely disembarked from the plane while efforts were made to remove the aircraft from the runway.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has commenced an investigation into the incident having been brought to their knowledge.
In a post via X on Sunday night, Keyamo confirmed the disruption was caused by an incident at the Abuja runway involving an aircraft which made it unable for other aircraft to land for some time.
He noted that the incident underscored the urgent need for a second runway at Abuja Airport.
He wrote: “Apologies for the flight disruptions at the Abuja airport today, which affected other flight operations throughout the country . It was caused by an incident at the Abuja runway involving an aircraft which made in impossible for other aircrafts to land for some time.
“This underscores the urgent need for the Abuja second runway and my first task when I came to office as Aviation Minister was to secure the land from the indigenes. Just two weeks ago, the contractors have moved to site to begin construction of the Abuja second runway.”