Passengers stranded as Port Harcourt airport runway shuts down

Hundreds of passengers on domestic and international flights
were left stranded (Saturday and Sunday) at the Port Harcourt
International Airport, Rivers State, as the airport runway remained
closed against traffic following the delay in removing a spoilt
Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to Air Peace Airline which skidded
off the runway while landing at about 3pm on Saturday.

The incident occurred during a heavy downpour at the airport
while the aircraft had descended into the runway for final
landing.

It was learnt that both the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)
had issued a force majeure to airlines, better referred to in
aviation sector as Notice to Air Men (NOTAM) informing of the
inability to use the airport for flight operations.

Worst hit were passengers on the Lufthansa Airlines of Germany
and Air France/KLM which had to cancel their Saturday and Sunday
flights to Frankfurt, Paris, and Amsterdam with some of the
intending passengers lodged in hotels.

“Lufthansa cancelled the flight on the Saturday June, 22, with
their customers lodged in the hotel; it has also cancelled today’s
flight (Sunday, June 23) due to airport closure,” said San Adewale,
a senior official of the airline on Sunday.

“And with no information given of the possible time to reopen
the airport, the flight of Monday June 24 will also be cancelled,
making it three flights cancelled if no new Notice to Air Men
(NOTAM) is issued,” the official lamented.

Some local airlines, however, had to divert their flights to the
Port Harcourt Air Force base.

Spokeswoman for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN), Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, in a statement about 3pm said “the
Air Peace aircraft that overshot the runway in Port Harcourt
International Airport has been moved away.”

She, however, didn’t state if the airport had been opened for
flight operations as investigators have to move in to assess the
state of the runway surface and its capacity to drain the flood to
allow the smooth landing and take-off of aircraft.

A statement by the Accident Investigation Bureau of Nigeria said
the Air Peace flight had 94 passengers and six crew members on
board and assured that investigations had been launched by a team
of experts to unravel the cause of the serious incident. A similar
incident involving a Dana Air flight occurred last year at the Port
Harcourt airport runway while the pilot was attempting to land
during heavy downpour leading to the destruction of the aircraft
beyond repairs.

Early in the year, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),
had warned pilots against landing at airports in the country during
adverse weather conditions, especially during downpours given the
risk associated with poor visibility, over shooting the runway, or
skidding off the runway.