MMIA Operations: Minister apologises over visibility debacle as authorities battle to restore normalcy
Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has apologized over the continuous hardship for operators to land at the Murtala Muhammed International airport Lagos stating that authorities were in the process of replacing the old Category 2 Instrument Landing Systems with the newly procured Category 3 system that allows for the lowest visibility landing before the current issues arose.
The Minister who expressed concern over the present situation that has been ongoing for three days now, noting that the experiences of air travellers to and from the MMIA regarding flight diversions and, in many cases, outright cancellations, due to highly inclement weather conditions were regrettable.
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He further came out open explaining that there was a malfunctioning of certain components, which, coupled with the unforeseen weather conditions, made landing at the airport difficult.
A statement by Director, Public Affairs James Odaudu read,” While these developments are greatly regretted, we wish to let the public know that the authorities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos was in the process of replacing the old Category 2 Instrument Landing Systems with the newly procured Category 3 system that allows for the lowest visibility landing.
“Unfortunately, there was a malfunctioning of certain components, which, coupled with the unforeseen weather conditions made landing at the airport difficult.
“The procurement of the Category 3 Instrument landing System is in pursuance of the desire of the Federal Government to ensure the safety of air passengers by ensuring that airplanes can land with almost zero visibility.
“We wish to assure the public and the airlines, that efforts are on to return the system to fully working condition and that normalcy of operations will be re-established in due course.
He, however, decried the diversion of flights to other country stating that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja could have conveniently handled those flights informing that Qatar Airways is already doing so:
“On the diversion of incoming international flights to neighbouring countries, we wish to reiterate that the decisions are purely those of the airlines which we have no control over.
“However, it should be noted that those flights could, and should have been rerouted to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja which is shorter or equidistant from Lagos to the foreign airports to which some of the flights have been diverted.
