Air Peace cancels flights to Enugu airport over runway flooding

Nigeria’s largest carrier, Air Peace on Sunday, 28^th July cancelled all its flights to Enugu International Airport over flooding in its runway.

The airline which operates two flights from Lagos and two flights from Abuja to the destination was unable to operate into the airport as the runway was not safe to land or take off as a result of the flood.

Reacting to the incident, John Ojikutu, Aviation Security Consultant and Secretary General of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) said he is not aware of any maintenance on the runway between 1977 and 2014 when Ethiopian Airlines was given clearance to fly to the airport.

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“Enugu airport was not designed for the traffic it is being forced on it. We’ve had two repairs on that runway in two years and I can see accusing fingers and hear mob actions on ‘government’. I served and worked in that airport more than 7 years and aside from the old B737 and irregular C130 flights, no bigger aircraft flew to that airport,” Ojikutu said.

He explained that the previous road to Abakaliki was a down slope from the Orthopedic hospitals through the airport and the market and Ekulu river flows on the opposite direction; adding the result of this ia a conflict of flood movement reconfigured by the various constructions in the airport.

“When last had Enugu experienced this type of flooding or what is the rain measurement if compared to previous that made the airport flooded? What are the effects of the present and various constructions that are restructuring the landscape of the airport? Even if I don’t know the airport, what are the consequences of all these?,” he inquired.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.