By Dickson Omobola

Growing cases of bird strikes across Nigerian airports have triggered fresh concern among stakeholders in the air transport sector.

The situation, which is not peculiar to domestic airlines, has also affected international carriers operating in the country, resulting in flight disruptions and costly aircraft repairs.

A bird strike is a collision between an airborne animal, most commonly a bird and a moving vehicle, typically an aircraft. This collision is most prevalent during take-off, initial climb, approach and landing phases.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that in 2024, Murtala Muhammed Air­port, MMA, Lagos, registered the highest number of such incidents, followed by Port Harcourt International Airport, PHIA, Omegwa; Sam Mbak­we International Cargo Airport, SMCA, Owerri; and Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo.

Barely six months into 2025, the situation has assumed an frightening dimension, which has led stakeholders to question the responsibility of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, in controlling wildlife hazards.

The latest in what has become a recurring and unpalatable scenario for airline operators happened last week at the Owerri and Port Harcourt airports, where Nigeria’s largest flag carrier, Air Peace, suffered two bird strikes within 24 hours.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that the Port Harcourt incident happened during landing, when a large bird hit the aircraft’s landing gear, resulting in significant damage.

Before these incidents, one of Air Peace’s airliners on Thursday, February 27, 2025, was also hit by a bird.

On Friday, February 28, 2025, two of the airline’s aircraft suffered double bird strikes. The trio of bird strikes happened within a 24-hour window, which led to the grounding of the affected aircraft for safety checks and necessary maintenance.

Findings by Saturday Vanguard also revealed that international airlines have recorded about 10 bird strikes in 2025, with Qatar Airways, Egyptair, South African Airways, African World Airlines, AWA, among others, affected.

An individual familiar with the situation, who said while some of those strikes did no damage to the aircraft, however, lamented the unbearable distress these incidents caused the affected international operators and travellers.

“Some strikes damaged nothing; others did. Even in those cases when there was no damage, how about the cost of flight disruptions: the delays, cancellations and missing connecting flights?” the source lamented.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, did not hold back in registering his displeasure in what has now resulted in the relevant authorities calling a meeting.

Onyema, while speaking to newsmen at the airline’s headquarters in Lagos, Wednesday, painted an unattractive scenario by disclosing that the airline has had over 115 bird strikes in the last five years.

According to him, there was a year Air Peace had 40; in 2025 alone, at least 30 cases have also been recorded.

He said: “One of the engines of our E-2 costs about $12.6 million. You can imagine that the aircraft suffers a bird strike. For the 737s, the price of everything has gone up. If you buy a 737 engine for $4 million and carry 80 passengers to Abuja, that is about three to five million Naira. While coming down, one bird hits the engine. That is $4 million gone, which is about N6 billion. Do you know how many engines we have lost through bird strikes? It is unimaginable.”

Records

Bird strikes are not new in the country’s aviation sector. Analysts told Saturday Vanguard that, though worse between 2005 and 2008, FAAN found short-term solutions to the menace.

Further checks also revealed that between 2018 and July 31, 2023, there were 514 cases of wildlife strikes across Nigerian airports, of which many were bird strikes.

A circular by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA,  dated July 17, 2023, and signed by the agency’s former Director, Captain Musa Nuhu, showed that there were 265 wildlife strikes at the Lagos Airport, which topped the list, between 2018 and 2023.

64 in 2018, 66 in 2019, 24 in 2020, 23 in 2021, 64 in 2022 and 24 in 2023.

Also, at the Port Harcourt Airport, which came second, there were 49 wildlife strikes within the aforesaid period, with 18 in 2018, eight in 2019, 14 in 2020, four in 2021, five in 2022 and none in 2023.

According to the 69-page document seen by Saturday Vanguard, records from “aircraft and aerodrome operators indicate that MMIA – MMA, Mallam Amino Kano, Ilorin, Sokoto, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Jos, Sokoto, Calabar, Yola, Benin, Maiduguri, Eket, Abuja were prone areas to wildlife strike incidents.”

The document listed some of the birds as Hawk (5), Egret (22), Vulture (1), Eagle (2), Kite (174), Owl (13), Kestrel (14), Lapwing (16), Francolin (2), Bat (33), Guinea Fowl (3), Heron (2), Pigeon (12), Swallow (1), Swift (5), Dove (3) and Falcon (3).

Control

As a result of these cases, especially at the MMA, FAAN launched hazard control equipment in October 2024, where the Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, represented by the Director of Airport Operations, Abdulllahi Mohmood, said the agency had enhanced equipment to fight the growing threat.

Kuku assured that the equipment would permanently address bird strikes, saying the pieces of equipment would be distributed to various airports across the country to mitigate wildlife hazards.

With little visible progress recorded in the control of wildlife hazards in the last nine months, industry stakeholders have raised concerns about the agency’s methods.

Not new

One of those who spoke to Saturday Vanguard was a former military commandant at the MMA, Group Captain John Ojikutu, retd, who said all the safety or security issues currently experienced across the country’s airports are not new, but poor continuity and training are to blame.

“These are things that have happened before, but the major problem is the inconsistency in the personnel who are in the management, and it has to do with career progression. We had these cases of bird strikes between 2005 and 2008 at the MMA. At the time, because it was very serious, they brought in ornithologists and also cleared the bush. When was the last time they cleared the river path of that place? It is that area that brings all these birds. The river between the runway on the left and right is full of so many things, like fish, and some birds go there to feed on them. If the people working in the airports are consistent, all of these things would be resolved,” he said.

Ojikutu, however, added that to find a lasting solution, there is a need to go back to the safety measures put in place in 2006 and 2009.

“If they look into the books, they will find the solutions there. If they don’t, the problem would be unresolvable. When they bought that equipment in 2024, how many people were trained on its usage? They had an ornithologist in FAAN, but suddenly they threw him out. Now, they have to restart things; nobody does things like that.”

Attraction

Also sharing his thoughts with Saturday Vanguard, an ornithologist, Mr Jalo Muhammad, said: “Usually, birds are highly mobile, and this makes them an incredible creature. They are always attracted to the habitat. If the airport is around a big wetland area, there will definitely be an abundance of birds, which may lead to bird strikes. In grassland areas, there are a lot of rodents which draw the attention of certain birds. If an airport in an untouched area is not properly managed, the activities can attract most of those birds. Even though birds do not like noise, the ones (lapwings, kite, Shikra and others) that settle around an airport area are good adapters. No matter the changes made around them, they will adapt as long as there is food around them.”

Activities

The Bio-Monitoring Officer at the Nigeria Conservation Foundation, NCF, however, said that though birds’ behaviour is hard to predict, their time of activities can be predicted.

He said: “For instance, early in the morning they have higher activities because it is the beginning of the day. If those in charge understand these things, they can effectively manage when a plane can take off and land. If the space around the airport has many rodents, then definitely there will be more activities of a bird like a Kite around that space at noon.”

Next steps

“Ornithologists and relevant aviation agencies need to come together. Aviation authorities are experts in air transport, while ornithologists are experts in bird ecology. There is a need to intensively train people who oversee the airports on bird activities. 

They need to learn about proper data collection because the data collected will enable them to understand when these incidents happen and the type of birds to enable them proffer solutions. Though we are going through hard times due to climate change, it does not mean that animal behaviour changes, and cannot be predicted. You also do not have to kill some of those things, like rodents that draw birds. Just allow nature to control itself by taking care of the vegetation. You can reduce green spaces, especially the grass,” he advised.