Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
AHEAD of the Yuletide, the Federal Airports Authority, (FAAN) has said it will soon commence repair work on the bad portions of the Akan Ibiam International Airport, Enugu international Airport runway.
The repair work which is expected to start two weeks before Christmas and last 10-days will shorten flight time but not halt operations to the airport entirely according to FAAN.
The state of the runway has affected some domestic flights into the airport of recent
Speaking with reporters at the sideline of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja, Managing Director, FAAN, Mr. Saleh Dunoma said plans have been concluded to ensure that when work starts the inconveniences to passengers would be minimized.
“I was in Enugu last week and we are just planning to have a two weeks break just before the Christmas to make sure that we take care of that runway but has to be properly planned, we want to plan it in such a way that the inconveniences would be minimized”.
He explained that after inspecting the runway last week during his visit to Enugu state, he spoke to the Enugu state government of what they intend to do to ensure safety on the runway.
He observed that while work was ongoing, the airport would not be closed but the time of operations would be shortened for speedy completion of work.
“so I have spoken to the people of Enugu precisely the Government so that they know what we intend to do, we are not going to close it. But what we intend to do is to maybe shorten the time of operations, so that we can take ten days and fix it but operations would continue”.
Recall that the joint committee on aviation of the National Assembly during their oversight visit queried why the runway had not been properly maintained these years after its expansion to take wide-bodied aircraft.
