Flight delays loom as FAAN shuts Lagos airport runway

By Anita Okoro

Air travellers in Nigeria may experience flight delays in the coming weeks following the closure of the domestic runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The runway closure, which will commence effectively on Friday, July 8, 2022 and last for a period of 90 days, is to enable some repairs and installation of AirField Lighting.

This means that international and local airlines will use the international runway (18R/36L) for landing and take-off during the three-month period.

Confirming the runway closure in a statement issued on Wednesday by Faithful A. Hope-Ivbaze, its acting Corporate Affairs general manager, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it had concluded arrangements to complete the installation of CAT III Airfield Ground Lighting system on Runway 18L/36R as part of efforts to improve safety and efficiency of flight operations at the airport.

“Consequently, Runway 18L/36R will be closed to flight operations during this time. However, stakeholders are to note that there will be no disruption. All normal flight operations will be conducted through runway 18R/36L. A NOTAM (Notice to Air Men) to this effect has already been published and disseminated accordingly,” FAAN said in the statement titled “Airfield lighting installation: FAAN to close domestic runway 18L/36R”.

FAAN had reportedly communicated the timeframe and modalities to airline operators at a meeting on Tuesday.

Amid this development, airline operators and industry experts are predicting that it could lead to flight delays.

Roland Iyayi, a former managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), foresees local airlines bearing more of the brunt of the closure.

Iyayi, who is also the CEO of Topbrass Aviation Services, said with the closure of the domestic runway, there would be additional delays of traffic, inbound and outbound-Lagos both domestic and international.

“For the domestic carriers, that will mean additional costs in terms of fuel. The international flights will not be pretty much affected because they have a scheduled arrival time. To a large extent, they don’t necessarily expect undue delays, if you know the peak periods for international flights, between early mornings and late evenings, so with more flights coming in the evenings and going out late nights, I expect a minimal impact to be on the international airlines,” Iyayi said.

“The domestic carriers will be the ones that will bear it more because it’ll mean that they have to taxi all the way from domestic to international and that’s an additional cost of fuel. The holding time and of course taxing time, all these things add up to cost and that’s the problem the carriers will have to face,” he said.

Kingsley Nwokeoma, president, Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, expressed the hope that the job would be completed within the stated timeframe.

“Apparently, we should always have in mind that the runways are major operational facilities and if you notice, we have always had runway issues and most times you don’t see the two runways being functional and the functionality is key because it is every airline’s dream to have a runway that is not being overused, these are runways that big birds keep landing on,” Nwokeoma said.

“The major effect will be that both the international and the local carriers will be using one particular runway, and this is not operationally healthy. Hopefully, we pray that FAAN and NAMA fix this on time and very well,” he said.