Flights into the Nigerian capital Abuja are set for significant disruption with the city’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (DNAA) due to close for at least six weeks from March 8. Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council recently confirmed a contentious decision by the Ministry of Aviation to press ahead with the full closure of the airport to allow for extensive repairs to a badly potholed runway and the construction of a new second runway.
While the work is completed flights will be diverted to Kaduna Airport (DNKA), located 100 miles north of Abuja. Flight-planning specialists UAS International Trip Support and Jetex both confirmed that the Abuja airport is due to be closed from March 8 through April 19.
According to UAS, Kaduna is primarily a domestic airport, but has been used for international flights during the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Local officials are now trying to expedite expansion work to the terminal building. However, airline passengers will have to check in at Abuja and then be tranported in buses to Kaduna, where secondary security screening will be conducted before departure. Nigeria’s main business city, Lagos, is 450 miles to the south and this drive commonly takes up to around 11 hours.
According to Nigeria’s minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika, the runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport has not had any significant maintenance for almost 14 years. The airport was built in 1982 with a single runway that was due to be rebuilt after 20 years. This work never happened and the bidding process for the new runway has been subject to delays.
Sirika told a press conference that in the future the Nigerian government intends to seek proposals to redevelop and run the country’s main airports under concessions granted to private investors. He did not say when this process will begin. A contract signed in November 2006 for a private consortium to manage Abuja’s airport under a 25-year agreement was abandoned in 2008.
Currently, three airlines offer direct international service to Abuja: British Airways, KLM Air France and Lufthansa. These carriers have yet to confirm their plans for services during the period when Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is closed. The airport, which is just 12 miles west of the city center, also attracts significant numbers of business aircraft.
Another difficulty endured by airlines and other aircraft operators over the past 12 months have been shortages of fuel at airports including those in Lagos, Abuja and Kano. This has resulted in fluctuating prices and problems with credit and arrangements for credit.