From Uche Usim Abuja

Ahead of the April 19, 2017, scheduled reopening of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has said it is awaiting clearance from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to resume full commercial operations.

This is sequel to a letter written by FAAN to the regulatory authority asking it to inspect and certify the runway and other facilities okay as required by law before local and foreign flights can be welcomed into the facility that was shut on March 7, 2017, for repairs.

Managing director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma, stated this at the weekend after inspecting the airport.

“All the critical works have been completed except for cleaning and, of course, inspection and certification by the NCAA.

“We have written to them that preliminary inspection will be done on Sunday, April 16, by 10am. They will inspect the airport, especially the runway, to ascertain that the works we carried out are in line with laid down standards.

“In case they find anything we need to fix, we still have ample time to do that before the airport is opened on April 19.

“After the inspection, NCAA will give the clearance needed to welcome flights into NAIA,” Dunoma said.

The FAAN boss also stated that all airfield lighting locations were being leveled so that all the installations there were in rhythm with the ground surface.

“This is so because in the event of an airplane skidding, there would be no concrete projections above the ground surface,” he explained.