Nigerian Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has made his apologies to Nigerians for flight disruptions at the Abuja airport on Sunday due to runway incursion involving an Aerocontractors aircraft.
Keyamo on his Twitter (X) handle made the apology while explaining the cause of the disruption said, it was caused by an incident at the Abuja runway involving an aircraft which made it impossible for other aircrafts to land for some time.
According to him, “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 it 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”, Keyamo noted.
It was reported that Lagos-Abuja flight operated by Aerocontractors landed at the Airport and it was taxiing on Runway A4 when its nose wheel got stuck to the ground, creating panic.
However, there was no fatality or injury as passengers were safely disembarked from the aircraft while efforts were being made to remove the aircraft from the runway.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau also commenced investigation into the serious incident after it was notified.
The aircraft involved in the serious incident was a Boeing 733 with Nationality and Registration Marks 5N-BYQ which occurred around 10:47am (Local Time) on 12th November, 2023.
NSIB Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Dr. James Odaudu, who confirmed the incident.
According to him said “The aircraft upon landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from Lagos and in a bid to exit the runway via A4 had its nose wheel stuck in the grass verge with its fuselage on the runway.
“Consequently, the runway was closed pending the towing of the aircraft from the runway.There was no injury or fatality.
“The NSIB, hereby, solicits information from the general public in form of pictures, video, recording evidences to assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation”, Odaudu added.