Explainer: What to know about Nigeria’s near-air crashes

Nigeria has not recorded air crashes in recent times, but there have been some near misses and incidents which could have been fatal.

Since 2023 till date, Nigeria has reported several incidents involving aircraft overshooting the runway and tyre busting during landing, resulting in damage of the aircraft.

Stakeholders have raised concerns that the near-crashes happen when there are poor oversights by the civil aviation authority. If these oversights are not addressed, there could be tragic crashes – like it happened in 2005 and 2006 involving Sosoliso Airlines, ADC Airlines, Bellview Airlines – experts say.

Near misses

The most recent near air mishap was an incident involving Max Air aircraft with the registration number, 5N-MBD, which suffered a tyre burst at the Aminu International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, with 53 passengers onboard.

The flight, VM1605, had earlier departed the Murtala Muhammed Muhammed (MMA), Lagos for Kano. It was however gathered that all the passengers onboard the flight were evacuated safely from the aircraft without any major injuries.

Max Air’s operational track record, particularly in 2024, has drawn attention for multiple safety lapses. On July 22, 2024, a Boeing 737 (5N-ADB) experienced a rear gear tyre burst during takeoff from Yola Airport. The incident worsened as two additional tyres burst while the aircraft attempted to taxi off the runway.

The Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) subsequently launched an investigation into the cause of the tyre burst. With that final report yet to be released, this event was merely the latest in a string of safety failures, raising questions about the airline’s ability to maintain its fleet and adhere to safety protocols effectively.

On July 11, 2023, a separate flight was forced to abort takeoff due to high exhaust gas temperature, while another flight returned to Abuja mid-air due to a cockpit duct overheat indication. These repeated failures led to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) directive to ground Max Air’s Boeing 737 fleet temporarily in July 2023.

Following this temporary grounding, the NCAA ordered a full safety audit of the airline’s operations before allowing its Boeing 737 fleet to return to the skies in August 2023. Despite this intervention, Max Air recorded tyre burst incidents in July 2024 and January 2025. These recurrent failures raise concerns about the airline’s commitment to addressing its safety shortcomings and implementing meaningful corrective actions, industry experts say.

In February 2023, an aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) experienced a burst tyre and had to make an emergency landing at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos.

Apart from Max Air and NAF, other carriers have been involved in many runway incursions and excursions leading to substantial damage to equipment but no fatalities.

Read also: Air traffic controller ‘left work early’ before deadly collision air crash 

Runway excursion

In September 2023, an aircraft belonging to United Nigeria Airlines carrying 51 passengers and four crew members skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos (MMIA).

In November 2023, an aircraft operated by ValueJet airline slipped on taxi turn after landing and cleared off the runway at Port Harcourt airport.

Stanley Balami, a captain at ValueJet, said the aircraft had stopped on the runway and executed the second turn-off when he encountered a slip due to algae on the turn-off.

In the same month, an aircraft belonging to Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s oldest aviation company, had a runway incursion at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja recently.

In May 2024, an aircraft belonging to Xejet Airlines at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) runway, Lagos, skidded off the runway on landing.

In April 2024, Dana Air’s aircraft skidded off the runway. The airline had 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight who disembarked safely without injuries.

On December 11, a B737-400 freighter operated by Allied Air Cargo freighter aircraft overran the runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) in Abuja, Nigeria.

The aircraft allegedly experienced a failure in its landing gear, which caused the eventual runway excursion during the landing.

What trends say

Stakeholders have said the trends show some laxity from the NCAA on its oversight and audits.

Recall that in 2024, Nigerian aviation industry dropped to 71.04 percent score in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) Continuous Monitoring Assessment (CMA) from an enviable 96.3 percent score in the same exercise in 2015.

Olumide Ohunayo, industry analyst and director of research at Zenith Travels, told BusinessDay that there is no need for panic but insisted that Nigeria must work on the recommendations given by ICAO during its last audit.

Ohunayo said from the recommendations, Nigeria needs to address its lack of sufficient personnel qualities and training, technical guidance and tools, quality control obligation and security concerns, which led to the country’s low performance in the security audit.

John Ojikutu, industry expert and the CEO of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, asked, “How regular are the periodic audits, inspections, checks, and oversight by the regulatory authority on the operators? Are there skilled manpower, especially inspectors, in sufficient numbers?”

Ojikutu said there ought to be investigations, reports and recommendations which should be followed after the first two Max Air incidents. He said this would have prevented the recent tyre burst incident.