Operator rues 10-month closure of MMIA runway

Chairman/CEO of Westlink Airlines, Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia yesterday described as insensitive the 10-month closure of the runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA).

The runway 18R 36L of the airport serving the international wing of the airport was shut down in March 2023 for five weeks for routine maintenance, according to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

In the course of the maintenance, the airfield lighting (AFL) at the runway was stolen making the runway unserviceable.

From five weeks, to five months and now 10 months later, the runway has remained shut causing inconveniences to airlines.

Foreign departures and arrivals now pass through the 18L 36R, which is shorter in length and used to serve only domestic flights.

The implication is that many foreign airlines using wide-bodied Jumbo jets are now forced to reduce their passenger and cargo load to manage to take off.

Mshelia in an interview on Aviation Runway on Metro FM monitored by our correspondent said, “The runway was closed since March last year for five-weeks maintenance and it’s still closed till now. This just goes to show the insensitivity of how we do things in our country.

“The operator of the airport, which is FAAN, depends on airlines to make income and generate revenue. They have closed that runway and for five weeks they have not opened it, it’s going to be a year now.

Now, we are almost approaching another March. In two months, we should be in another March 2024 and the runway is still not open. It’s just very sad. I don’t know what to say but it just does not show that there is any seriousness in what we do here.

“These airlines are now having to use one runway. Do you know the amount of money people waste to utilise one runway in Lagos? There is a lot of congestion, pressure on air traffic controllers and other service providers. NAMA is suffering from stress. Airlines are suffering the stress, even service providers who have to now move all the way to the other side just to be able to provide the service, they are going through stress.

“So for people to say you are closing the runway and opening in five weeks and they do nothing, I just don’t know what to say. It just shows that we don’t care. Cavalier attitude towards business is not acceptable in this clime but this is what we see ourselves doing.”

The operator lamented that the current situation will continue unless there is consequence for action.

“There is something fundamentally wrong, unless there is consequences for misbehaviour of this nature, they would continue,” he added.

The operator stated that a precedent was set in the last government when Abuja runway was shut “For no reason because I didn’t see the rationale behind closing that Abuja runway till today. They said they were going to resurface it. You don’t need to close the airport to resurface the runway anymore. There’s a way you can do it progressively over time. Then again, okay in their own wisdom they said they were going to close it. What did we end up doing? They patched it, I challenged anybody who said they resurfaced it. They only patched it. The exit going to the Presidential wing is already bad. There are cracks all over the place.”