The Federal Government has
barred airlines from flying into the Maiduguri airport until March 2014; investigation
has shown.
According to a Notice to
Airmen sent by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency to airline operators, a
copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, the carriers were told that
the airport would no longer be available for flights until March 2014.
In the NOTAM, which was filed
through NAMA’s Aeronautical Information Services, and sent to some Control
Towers across the country, pilots were informed that the Maiduguri airport was
shut during the first week of December and would not be available until early
March next year.
Further investigations by our
correspondent revealed that the Federal Government decided to shut the airport
after Boko Haram insurgents destroyed some equipment belonging to NAMA.
A NAMA source at one of the
airports in the North, who confirmed the development, said it was the agency’s generators
that were destroyed by the Boko Haram sect during the recent attack on the
Maiduguri Air Force base.
He said the generators might
not be fixed until next year, expressing the hope that the government would
have fixed the situation before the March date when the airport was expected to
be re-opened.
Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital, was on December 2 attacked by Boko Haram insurgents, leading to
the death of two military personnel and members of the sect, and the
destruction of three decommissioned military aircraft, two helicopters and property
worth millions of naira.
Owing to the siege, military
authorities and the Borno State Government slammed a 24-hour curfew on the city
and its environs.
The attack forced the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria to shut the Maiduguri airport and airlines
hurriedly cancelled their flights to the city.
Arik Air had to cancel its
Abuja to Maiduguri morning flight on Monday following the attack, just as roads
leading into the city were closed.
However, the FAAN spokesman,
Mr. Yakubu Dati, said on Monday that the airport had been opened.
He said the Maiduguri airport
was just closed for a day following the Boko Haram attack on the nearby Air
Force base and had since been re-opened.
But findings revealed that
the airport had yet to be reopened. Arik Air said it had yet to resume
operations to the Maiduguri airport because the airport was still closed.
Early this year, domestic
airlines operating flights into Kano, Maiduguri, Yola and other volatile cities
the North had announced plans to stop flights into the cities due to security
concerns.
The development came a few
months after some of the domestic carriers cancelled night-stops for their crew
and aircraft in extremely volatile northern cities, especially Maiduguri.
The security situation had
forced the foreign airlines to stop night stops at the Abuja airport.
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