Transportation

11 out of 22 Nigerian Airports Open to Flights

By Web News 2778

Since commencement of domestic flight operations in the country on the 8th of July, only 11 airports have been opened to flights out of the 22 airports owned and operated by the Federal Government.

Investigation by our aviation correspondent revealed that as at 19th of this month, Abuja, Lagos, Uyo, Kano and Port Harcourt Airports have resumed activities.

Others are Owerri, Kaduna, Calabar, Maiduguri, Sokoto and Yola airports.

These airports that have been opened are certified to have complied with the provision of post COVID-19 restart guidelines and health protocols in addition to being authorized by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.

Speaking during the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 briefing last week, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika said the ministry had been under a lot of pressure and received questions regarding the opening of some airports.

He explained that airports are opened based on their compliance to the Covid-19 Protocols.

According to him, they are at liberty to open and close airports depending on some many other operational reasons, adding that at any point in time whether there is Covid or not, airports can be closed if some issues were discovered and opened if certain gaps have been addressed.

“This is because once we said they are open, we now went back into those airports to ensure everything is okay and safe to operate, health-wise and operation-wise and some airports are so far apart and security reasons and difficulty in travel. We are lucky that we have an aircraft at our disposal which is meant to be for calibrating our equipment, we use that aircraft to enter into all of these airports to ensure they are safe.”

The Minister said inspections were still ongoing at other airports yet to be reopened, adding that if they meet the requirements of the restart guidelines and health protocols, they would be opened to flights.

Nosa Aituamen

Transportation

Domestic Flights Resume from Lagos Airport

By Web News 1110

The first flight at resumption of domestic operations this morning departed the Lagos airport at 7.15am with 75 passengers and an infant onboard.

The passengers who arrived the airport as early as 5am seamlessly went through the safety measures put in place.

Before they gained access into the terminal, they sanitized their hands, had their temperatures taken and their luggage disinfected before proceeding to the airline counters for their boarding passes.

Physical distancing was strictly adhered to with the markings on the floors and the barricade at the check-in counters.

At the General Aviation Terminal One that warehouse the activities of all the domestic operators only had two airlines operating at the restart of operations.

At the MM2 terminal, of the 6 airlines operating, only 2 airlines operated from the terminal.

For restart, some of the airlines are operating three, two and a flight each on Lagos-Abuja, Abuja-Lagos routes for the day throughout the week and as passengers increase, they promised to review their schedules to accommodate the traffic.

On each of the flights this morning, an official of the regulatory body accompanied the aircraft to access the operations and report back.

Spokesman for one of the airlines, Mr. Banji Ola said, the passenger load factor for the morning flight was above average while afternoon flights from the number of ticket sold would be more than above average.

He expressed satisfaction with the cooperation of passengers during the boarding process and urged them to take to booking, pay and check in their flights online to reduce waiting time for their boarding passes.

Head of Engineering of one of the airlines, Mr. Luqmon Animashaun commended the terminal managers for the arrangements in place and passengers’ patience and cooperation.

The airlines time of departure was staggered to avoid overcrowding in the terminal and to afford the officials of the regulatory agency to effectively monitor the check in procedures by the respective airlines.

So far, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has only cleared 5 airlines to restart domestic flights while others are still going through certain documentation process to ascertain payment of their insurance and that of their staff.

Nosa Aituamen

Health

COVID-19: Nigeria Limits International Arrivals to 2 Airports

By Web News 814

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire says International travel into Nigeria has been limited to two airports, to enable proper screening of arriving travellers into the country.

The minister stated this while giving updates on the Coronavirus pandemic in Abuja. 

Dr Ehanire said the two airports are Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja while domestic flights are not included.

He also stated that Nigeria has identified Austria and Sweden as two more high-risk countries within the past 24 hours.

The minister stressed that people who just returned from infected countries in the last 3 weeks and people who have had close contact with someone who has either tested positive or who just returned from a foreign trip are eligible for testing as the test kits and reagents are becoming too scarce for random testing.

He urged people who just got back from foreign trips to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days to protect others and reduce chances of infecting others noting that self-Isolation is a social responsibility, in order to protect members of their family, community and society.

Dr Ehanire said the federal government is aggressively involved in contact tracing of people who have contact with anyone who has tested positive to the virus.

Bunmi Agboola/Maxwell Oyekunle