By LAWANI MIKAIRU
Pilots flying into the domestic wing of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, may soon stop blind flying as there is hope that Air Field Lighting may be installed on Runway 18 Left.

Several Ministers of Aviation have made promises to correct the anomaly created by the then Minister of Aviation, Mr Babatunde Omotoba, whose administration failed in its responsibility to install the Air Field Lighting (AFL) when the Runway 18 Left was resurfaced and commissioned in December 2008. This situation has made it impossible for aircraft to take-off and land at the runway beyond 6pm.

The current Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr George Uriesi has disclosed that the sorry state of the runway at night is inexcusable and Air Field Lighting will soon be installed. Mr Uriesi said it is an aberration for a runway to be constructed without Air Field Lighting.

The absence of the AFL at Runway 18 Left for over three years now has created a scenario where airlines find it difficult to operate at the domestic wing of the airport whenever it is dark or when  it rains heavily thus making visibility difficult. What this means is that the airport can only carry out Visual Flight Operations from 6am to 6pm on daily basis.

Any aircraft that comes to the domestic wing of the airport after this period lands at the runway of the international wing of the airport and taxies to the domestic wing, apparently adding more time to what it ought to have spent.

This development most airline operators said, has adversely affected them as a result of the cost implication of having to taxi from the international wing of the airport to the domestic.

It will be recalled that the Obasanjo-led administration in 2006 approved the sum of N19.5 billion as aviation intervention fund to secure the country’s skies after series of plane crashes that claimed many lives in the country.

From this, a contract worth N3.56 billion was awarded to P.W Nigeria Limited in 2006 for the resurfacing and expansion of the runway by 150 metres. It was also gathered that the cost of the air field lightings was not included in the contract sum.

For over three years now, the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos has been handling only daylight flight operations due to the absence of  Air Field Lightings (AFL) that are supposed to enable the airport handle flights at night.

The inability of the agency whose responsibility it is to install this all important equipment has raised concern among players in the aviation sector. The danger this portends for air travellers was recently highlighted by President of Aviation Round Table (ART), Captain Dele Ore who  noted that the absence of Air Field Lightings at Runway 18 Left of the domestic wing of the airport has  caused  the wearing away of aircraft tyres  as well as other faults generated from having to taxi from the international wing during the dark, to the domestic wing of the airport. This, he said, is a great threat to the safety of both the pilots and the passengers aboard the aircraft.

Captain Ore further said that with the recent hike in the Jet A1 otherwise known as aviation fuel, airlines would have to spend more whenever they operate flights beyond 6pm. as a result of the fuel often wasted from  taxiing from the international airport to the domestic.

It is only a country,may be like Nigeria, that does not attach importance to life that will allow a runway to be operational without airfield  lighting. This is because incase of emmergency at night a plane could be diverted to land at the domestic runway.