Domestic Flights Cancelled For Hours In Nigeria As Aircraft Blocks Abuja Airport Runway

It was gathered that the plane which left Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos around 10.30 am developed a fault when it arrived in Abuja and could not be moved from the runway for hours.

There were cancellations of domestic flights en route to Abuja for hours on Sunday as an aircraft belonging to Cally Air blocked the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

It was gathered that the plane which left Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos around 10.30 am developed a fault when it arrived in Abuja and could not be moved from the runway for hours.

This resulted in sudden cancellations and rescheduling of flights flying to Abuja from other airports across the country.

For instance, flights from Sokoto, Kano, Akure and Ibadan were cancelled, while some from the southeast region were rescheduled to a later time.

“Our plane just returned to Kano after taking off about 30 minutes ago.

“We’re told that a plane just crashed at Abuja airport so we were asked to return to Kano until they received signals,” one of the passengers said.

“We just returned to Lagos after hovering over the Abuja air space for more than 30 minutes,” another passenger told SaharaReporters on Sunday.

It was later learnt that regular flight operations had resumed at the airport after the faulty aircraft was moved out of the runway.

In Nigeria, flight cancellations are regular, with air passengers going through a harrowing experience and delay to get their money refunded in the event of a cancelled flight.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, said in April that billions of naira in aviation earnings were being lost to flight cancellations and delays but did not give the time frame to quantify the amount.