The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) haa explained that failure of the Runway 06/24 edge light at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, Kano to light up led to the diversion of the two Kano bound aircraft at the weekend.
Although the airport manager states that Night operations has since resumed at the airport as since Sunday, 16 July, 2023 after restoration of all runway lights.
Director, Public Affairs & Consumer Protection,
Abdullahi Yakubu-Funtua who explained what transpired on July 15, 2023 when the lights did not come on stated:
“On July 15, 2023 at about 1600hrs , the airfield maintenance team of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) observed that the runway lighting would not come on after the scheduled daily maintenance work of replacing old and weak Airfield cables with new one’s at runway 06/24.
“The maintenance team immediately initiated fault finding procedures along the cable route to identify the problem and restore power to the airfield lighting circuit.
“It was however observed that the entire runway circuit was affected , leading to the failure of the Runway 06/24 edge light , the Taxiway Alpha edge light , PAPI and signage .
“As at 1900hrs local time, the fault had yet to be isolated and power supply to the runway could not be restored leaving Runway in a total blackout which affected night operations.
Arriving flights had to be diverted to alternate airports.
“At 2300hrs, after all efforts to restore power supply to the runway failed, Operations department initiated a NOTAM action for the closure of Runway 06/24 between the hours of 2300hrs on 15th July to 07:00hrs of 16th July, 2023.
“The FAAN regrets any inconvenience caused by the diversion of the 2 Kano bound aircraft to Lagos, due to the unserviceability of the runway lights of Runway 06/24.
‘Night operations has since resumed as new cables were installed on Sunday , 16 July , 2023 leading to restoration of all runway lights before commencement of night operations. “
