Tickets hit N100,000 as Abuja-Kaduna flights resume after 2 months

Azman Air resumed flights to Kaduna after about two-month suspension due to terrorist attack on the Kaduna International Airport. 

The airline landed at the airport around noon on Monday amidst excitement from airport stakeholders, passengers and the airport authority.

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The airline had suspended the flight to Kaduna on March 28 after the airport was attacked by terrorists who invaded the airport runway.

The airline said it suspended the flight to re-evaluate security at the airport.

Other airlines also halted flights after the attack where a security guard attached with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was killed.

A day after, the Abuja-Kaduna train was attacked with 10 people killed while 61 kidnapped victims are still in captivity.

However, respite came the way of Air passengers on the Kaduna route after one of the airline operating the route resumed flights.

Azman landed at the airport around noon on Monday with 42 passengers while some of the passengers paid over N100,000 from Abuja to Kaduna.

Daily Trust reports that Abuja-Kaduna flight is about 20 minutes but many passengers paid for a two-legged ticket which costs over N100,000 from the nation’s capital in Abuja to Kaduna.

Though the airline did not fly directly to Kaduna, it flew Kaduna-bound passengers to the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos from where they connected the Kaduna flight.

“This shows how desperate people were to travel to Kaduna in the face of the security challenges on Abuja-Kaduna Road and the suspension of the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service,” a source said.

An Azman official who confirmed the flight resumption to Daily Trust said the flight would be operated a day interval, meaning that the next flight to Kaduna would be on Wednesday.

The airline on its Twitter page said, “It was a defining moment for the Aviation community as the airport is reopened after being closed for 2months. It’s so exciting to be back.”