Passengers travelling from various parts of Nigeria to Port Harcourt International Airport have been stranded since the temporal shutdown of the runway on Saturday.
The runway was shut down temporarily on Saturday at 3.42pm after Air Peace aircraft skidded off the runway over heavy down pour, resulting to low visibility at the airside.
Toyin Olajide, chief operating officer of the airline, who confirmed the incident, said Air Peace Flight P47291 Abuja-Port Harcourt had a runway excursion upon landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport on June 22 due to heavy downpour.
BusinessDay’s investigations show that passengers who were at the airport awaiting their flight before the incident had to book hotels to wait until the airside was open for operations.
However, some went back to their respective places, some others who had urgent duties took night buses, while others who had no option stayed back at the airport hoping the runway might soon be opened for operations.
Further checks show that out of seven airlines operating into the Port Harcourt airport, only Arik and Dana made alternate plans for its passengers by giving them option to fly into or from Owerri airport. As a result, Arik was able to divert four of its flights, while Dana diverted just two of its flights.
However, as at the time of writing this report on Sunday, a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) on the reopening of the airport by 6pm.
Before then, Henrietta Yakuku, general manager, corporate affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), told BusinessDay that apart from Lufthansa and Cronos that operate international flights at the airport, at least 16 flights operated by Air Peace, Dana Air, Max Air, Arik Air and Aero Contractors, take off at the airport every 24 hours.
This implies that for take-off and landing, domestic airlines operate nothing less than 32 flights in and out of Port Harcourt everyday. With Arik and Dana being able to successfully divert six flights, 26 flights scheduled to land or take off at Port Harcourt did not operate within 24 hours.
An aircraft can take an average of 120 passengers at an average cost of N30,000 for a seat. This implies that airlines lost at least N93.6 million between Saturday and Sunday evening the runway was shut.
Banji Ola, corporate communications manager, Arik Air, told BuisnessDay that the airline was able to make alternate plans for its passengers to land and take off in Owerri with four of its flights been diverted.
Kingsley Ezenwa, corporate communications manager, Dana Air, said Dana Air was able to divert just two of its flights because some of its passengers refused to go through Owerri as an option.
“Our remaining flights have been rescheduled and some others have been delayed into the night. We have asked some passengers to come back later and we have been communicating with them on the developments via emails and text messages,” Ezenwa said.
As at the time this report was written, Henrietta Yakubu said the airplane had been successfully removed but the runway was being cleared because of the mud at the airport.
“As I speak to you, they are washing the mud away. Once they are done with this, NAMA should open the runway. We had to use equipment provided by the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company plc (nacho aviance) and a construction company,” Yakubu said.
