FAAN to shutdown Enugu airport runway from August 24 – TheNigerialawyer

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has notified
airlines and passengers that the runway at Akanu Ibiam
International Airport, Enugu will be closed for major repairs from
August 24.

Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN’s corporate affairs manager, made this
known in a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday.

NAN reports that the airport closure is coming three months
after Hadi Sirika, the immediate past minister of state for
aviation, said the airport would be closed down over the state of
the runway.

Sirika had said that the airport would be degraded for
international operations because the runway length is not ideal for
such operations.

In Saturday’s statement, Yakubu said the date for reopening
would be communicated in due course.

Meanwhile, the management of Air Peace has commended the federal
government for the decision to close the Enugu International
Airport for proper repair and maintenance of the airport’s
runway.

Allen Onyema, Air Peace chairman, told journalists on Saturday
that the runway had been giving stakeholders serious safety
concerns.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Air Peace is fully and totally in
support of this decision. Though the decision will affect the
traveling public,” he said.

“However, the airline, place the safety of the flying public,
our crew and equipment above any commercial benefits.

“The government should go all out to put everything in place,
within the period of the closure, that will make the airport rank
among the best international airports in the country.

“We plead with the federal government to make the airport a 24
hours flight operations airport by improving the night landing
infrastructure.”

Onyeama commended President Mohammadu Buhari for his resolve to
correct the infrastructural decay affecting the industry.