The first commercial flight is expected to land at Anambra International Airport Umueri on April 30, 2021, to test-run facilities at the airport.
The state’s information and public enlightenment commissioner Don Adinuba was prompted to announce the expected flight after a report alleged the aviation ministry offered Anambra licence to operate a domestic airport instead of an international one.
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Adinuba called the reports false, misleading and mischievous.
” The report fails to state when the Minister announced the alleged decision, how and to whom. In other words, it fails the basic requirements of a news report,” he said.
“Yet, we are compelled to refute the substandard report because of the anxiety it has created in millions of Nigerians, particularly Anambra people, across the globe who cannot wait to make use of the airport.”
The airport will begin with domestic operations, before taking on regional and international ones.
Adinuba claims the airport’s 5.7km long and 60m wide runway is the longest and largest in Africa.
“Its facilities are the most modern in the whole country, and such pieces of equipment as the fire trucks rank among the most modern in the world. It is the only airport in Nigeria with satellite landing instruments. The implication is that planes can land there any time of the day or night,” he said.
“True, Anambra International Cargo/Passenger Airport may be the fifth airport to be built by any Nigerian state government. But it is the only one conceived and built for international operations. It is the only built in just one year three months.”