Respite for passengers as NAMA continues calibration of ILS at Lagos airport

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has said that it continued the calibration of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on Tuesday.

BusinessDay’s checks show that the ILS which was purchased last year was undergoing calibration until the process was disrupted as a result of inclement weather conditions and other technical issues which the agency refused to disclose.

It will be recalled that almost all the international airlines could not operate into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos last week due to inclement weather conditions and breakdown of landing aids at the airport.

While some advanced airports operate under as low as zero visibility, the foggy weather in Lagos has kept aircraft on ground and left thousands of passengers stranded at neighbouring countries where these flights were diverted to.

Some of the airlines that recorded multiple flight diversions include British Airways, Air France, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Delta airlines and several others.

Khalid Udoh Emele, head of Corporate Communications department at NAMA confirmed to BusinessDay that the calibration was on-going and the aircraft was on ground since Tuesday morning.

“We did the calibration earlier but there was a break and it continued again today (Tuesday). I don’t know how long the calibration will last but it all depends on the equipment. We will cease this opportunity to calibrate all the navigational aids in Lagos and other airports that have not been calibrated,” Emele said.

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.