Abuja Airport Closure: Foreign Airlines Insist Kaduna Not Safe For Operations

Barely 24 hours to the closure of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport 9NAIA), Abuja for total rehabilitation of its runway, foreign airlines have continued to shun the alternate airport, Kaduna, insisting the airport is not safe for flight operations.

This is coming as local carriers jostle to increase their frequencies to Kaduna Airport in order to capture more passengers on the route pending the complete renovation of the Abuja runway.

Virtually all the foreign airlines spoken to by our correspondent said that they won’t relocate their operations to Kaduna despite the appeal of the Federal Government for them to do so.

The operators told Urchbaba that they have already informed the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika that they would be suspending operations to Abuja the moment it is shut for total rehabilitation. For instance, British Airways in a statement signed by its Regional Commercial Manager West Africa, Mr. Kola Olayinka said that the airline considered several factors before deciding not to fly to Kaduna Airport.

The statement reads: “‘I can confirm that BA will not be operating to Kaduna during the planned closure of the Abuja Airport. “Many factors were considered before this decision was reached, major ones are concern about the safety and security of our passengers as well as difficulties around some key operational issues. “We are currently evaluating all options for our customers planning to travel at that time and we will be reaching out directly to them for information about their trip.”
Also, South African Airways in its letter to Sirika, informed him that it would cease flight operations to Abuja starting from today, March 6th 2017.

The letter was made exclusively available to our correspondent by a source close to the Ministry. The letter was signed by the Ag. Chief Commercial Officer, SAA, Mr. Aaron Munetsi.

The letter read in part: “SAA commends the Nigerian authorities concerning the planned repairs of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport runway. However, due to network and fleet operations planning, SAA regrets to advise that the airline will suspend its Abuja operations with effect from 6th March until April 18th  2017.

“The airline promised to be in constant touch with the Nigerian aviation authorities as the repair work progresses in order to establish its readiness for revised operations in accordance with the work schedule.” Besides, the media consultant to Lufthansa Airways, Mr. Hakeem Jimoh in a telephone conversation with our correspondent said that the carrier would not operate to Kaduna as directed by the government. Rather, he explained that the airline would continue to operate to Port Harcourt and Lagos, stressing that it would only return to Abuja Airport once it is re-opened for flight operations.

He explained that the airline has already stopped the sales of Abuja airport tickets for passengers intending to travel to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from March 8, 2017. Jimo explained that passengers who had already booked ahead, the airline would offer them “no fee booking option,” which would allow them to change their travel plans to Lagos and Port Harcourt Airports without collecting additional charges from them.

He, however, said that for those who still prefer Abuja Airport to any of the alternatives offered by the airline, the management would make refunds to them without any charges.

He said: “There is no plan to operate to Kaduna Airport by the airline. We will soon suspend our operations to Abuja and return to the airport once it is re-opened for flight operations. We don’t have any codeshare arrangement with any Nigerian airline at least for now.

“So, for those who have already book ahead, we will give them alternatives, which is either Lagos or Port Harcourt that we still fly into in the country. We will offer them ‘no-fee booking option,’ which is the industry standards and if any passenger still doesn’t want to fly with us, we will make a full refund of their payments to them without any charges.”

Other airlines that operate into Abuja, but have declined to fly to Kaduna are Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir, Air France and Lufthansa Airways.

However, indigenous carriers have indicated their willingness to operate direct flights to Kaduna as from tomorrow.

Dana Air in a press statement to journalist early this morning said I would commence four daily flights to the state from March 8, 2017.