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International Airlines Boycott Nigerian Airport Over Safety Reasons - Newspaper

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 00:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Wole Shadare entitled "Foreign airlines refuse to fly out of Lagos airport" published by Nigerian newspaper The Guardian on Sunday website on 6 November; all times local time

To prevent another tragedy two weeks after the ill-fated Bellview Flight 210 crashed at Lisa, Ogun State, killing all 117 on board, some foreign airlines refused to fly out of Lagos in the early hours of yesterday, citing safety reasons.

The action of the airlines, which included British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and Lufthansa Germany Airline, left many passengers stranded at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.

However, officials of the British Airway (BA) told The Guardian yesterday evening that the London-Lagos flight expected to arrive in Lagos by 6 p.m. would land by 10.30 p.m.

Lufthansa has suspended operations in Nigeria.

Although the South African Airways (SAA) and a few other airlines braced the odds by flying, the mainly European airlines passed a "vote of no confidence" on the Lagos airport runway 18L, which had deteriorated with cracks and potholes.

At the airport, passengers were seen desperate to ascertain whether their airlines had rescinded their decisions not to fly. The terminal building was already brimming with passengers.

As at noon yesterday, KLM passengers were already boarding their flight that was supposed to have departed at 11.45 p.m. on Friday.

It was gathered that most of the passengers, with places of domicile outside Lagos, were lodged in hotels by the airline, in line with the recommended practice.

A top official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed that the airlines had kicked against the state of the runway. He, however, said that the management of FAAN was meeting with the airlines to resolve the issue.

The official noted that the refurbished runway 18R, which has been described as longer, wider and smoother, was the only panacea to such embarrassment.

Minister of Aviation, Professor Babalola Borishade had promised that the 18R runway would be opened to traffic before the end of last month to take pressure off the only functional 18L runway.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for FAAN, Ade Ajakaiye stated that in view of the problem, the runway was temporarily closed from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. yesterday to enable minor repairs on it. He disclosed that for a permanent repair, the runway would be closed today from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Also yesterday, Virgin Atlantic Airway that was scheduled to depart at 1.20 a.m. was still on the approval at 1.20 p.m. Ethiopian Airline flight scheduled to depart Lagos at 1.15 p.m. for Addis Ababa was yet to depart as at press time.

The Guardian learnt that the decision by the mega carriers to boycott operations out of the Lagos airport was occasioned by the near incident of KLM Airlines, whose aircraft ran into the problematic runway on arrival into Lagos Friday evening.

In the interim, many of the stranded passengers described what is happening at the airport as a national disgrace. [Passage omitted]

Source: BBC Monitoring Africa

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