Diverted flights as airplane incident closes Abuja runway

Several airline operations were on Sunday disrupted, and flights were diverted over a serious incident involving a B737 belonging to Cally Air but managed by Aero Contractors Airlines.

The incident was said to have occurred around 10:47 am (Local Time) when the aircraft, upon landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, from Lagos and in a bid to exit the runway via A4 had its nose wheel stuck in the grass verge with its fuselage on the runway

Consequently, the runway was closed pending the towing of the aircraft from the runway, leading to many aircraft that were on descent to hover for a few minutes before deciding to divert to the nearest airports or back to base.

Many aircraft that were Abuja-bound before the incident happened diverted to Kano. ValueJet’s 11.20 am flight diverted to Kano while Dana Air’s Flight 9j335 returned to Lagos. The incident dislocated so many people’s travel plans and put a huge cost on airlines and their schedules to the Abuja airport.

The National Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), in a statement on Sunday, said, consequently, the runway was closed pending the towing of the aircraft from the runway.

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James Odaudu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NSIB, said there was no injury or fatality.

“The NSIB, hereby, solicits information from the general public in the form of pictures, video, or recording evidence to assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation,” the statement read.

He said that the NSIB would appreciate the general public and press respecting the privacy of the people on board and not assuming the cause of the serious incident until the formal report is released.

“The NSIB is a multimodal investigation agency charged with the mandate to investigate transportation accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria to identify the probable causes and proffer safety recommendations that can prevent reoccurrence,” the statement added.

He further disclosed that the accident investigative body would release the preliminary report as soon as possible

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.