Calabar airport shut for two months

Posted by admin Abia, Cross River, Headlines Friday, May 6th, 2011

The Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar, Cross River State, has been shut down for two months to effect repairs on the runways.

While an official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria maintained that the airport was closed to enable the management to fix the runway, a source told our correspondent that the closure might not be unconnected with ongoing aviation security projections at the nation’s airports following the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

The source said, “The closure is in tandem with the Federal Government joining other nations of the world to tighten security at the nation’s airports to avert any reprisal attack from the Islamic world or the al-Qaeda’s fundamentalists.”

The General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Mr. Akin Olukunle, who confirmed the closure, said the maintenance would last from May 7 to July 8.

“It is being shut down strictly for the maintenance of the runway which is long overdue,” he said.

However, dispelling rumours that it was shut down because of reprisal attacks following the killing of Bin Laden, the Public Relations Officer of the Calabar Airport, Mrs. Iloanya Uyu, said the repair of the runway was not a factor of the security beef-up at the nation’s airports.

She said the security of the airport would continue to be a thing of concern to the management in view of its proximity to other neighbouring countries.

“Our airport is always secure; we do not need the killing of Osama Bin Laden to fortify or secure our airport. We are always on red alert and the surfacing of the runway is just the normal routine maintenance of the airport,” she added.

Uyu described the runway upgrade as necessary to enhance greater productivity of the airport and appealed to users of the airport to exercise some patience until the project was completed.

-Punchwp_posts