By Lawani Mikairu
AVIATION stakeholders have commended the federal government for keeping to the Six weeks time duration for the rehabilitation of the Abuja Airport runway.

This is just as all the domestic airlines currently operating in Nigeria have resumed flight operations to Nnamidi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after it was opened on Tuesday , a day earlier than scheduled reopening date. President Aviation Roundtable, ART,   Mr Gabriel Olowo while commending the government said: “We in ART salute the minister of Aviation and his agencies for living true to its promise to deliver Abuja run way on   schedule as we count down to April 19.

The arrival of Ethiopian Airbus from AddisAbaba at the NAIA, Abuja at 12.pm

Essential and necessary support

“Measurable deliverable remains our challenge in the sector and we are quite pleased the minister even put his job on the line on the project during ART breakfast meeting with himself and the information minister.

“We appreciate the presidency for giving the essential and necessary support to make this happen on schedule. It is our prayer that such purposeful actions is sustained in the sector as we demand that Aviation delivers 1 % of Nigeria GDP by 2020 as against the present meager 0.4 %. We demand for measurable growth on the Airline side and the Airports.”

Commending the federal government also , the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed in a statement signed by Mr Segun Adeyemi, Senior Assistant to the Minister, said the timely completion of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,

Abuja, runway that paved the way for the re-opening of the airport, after a six-week closure, “ has shown the ability of the Buhari Administration to rise up to any occasion, irrespective of how daunting the challenge may be.”

The minister also said the “clock-work precision with which everything concerning the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and the temporary relocation to the Kaduna Airport was handled by the relevant ministries and the security agencies is the clearest indication yet that Nigeria can tackle any challenge. ’It is to the credit of the security agencies and the Federal Road Safety Corps that passengers travelling along the ever-busy Abuja-Kaduna highway were largely kept safe while the closure of the Abuja airport lasted. There was no known security scare while accidents on the road were kept at the barest minimum, despite the increased vehicular traffic. Who can forget the timely departure and arrival of the Abuja-Kaduna train that ferried thousands of passengers back and forth during the Abuja airport closure”?

‘’Indeed, the closure of the Abuja airport runway and the logistic nightmare it triggered must rank among the most intimidating challenges faced by this Administra-tion. It’s ability to live up to expectation by delivering the project even before the scheduled date has further confirmed that Nigerians elected a responsive, responsible and capable federal government in 2015,’’ the minister said.

Meanwhile, all domestic airlines have resumed flight operations to Abuja Airport.   Announcing their resumption of flight operations to Abuja Airport , Mr Roland Ohaeri, Head, Corporate Communicat-ions.

Overland Airways, said the airline   has “relocated flight services back to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from the Kaduna International Airport”, following the reopening of the Abuja Airport, which was shut down to flight operations for six weeks from March 8, 2017, to allow for major repairs on the runway.

Speaking also, Mr Adebanji Ola, General Manager, Public Affairs, Arik Air, said the airline will be resuming scheduled flight operations to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Commenting on the resumption of flights to Abuja, Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu said: “We are pleased that the Federal Government has fulfilled its promise to reopen Abuja Airport on schedule. This is highly commendable and airline operators can now operate safely to Abuja without any concerns about the state of the runway.

The Accountable Manager of Dana Air, Mr Obi Mbanuzuo while reacting to the opening of Abuja Airport, thanked the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika for walking the talk. He said , “We will commence flights to Abuja on Wednesday and will operate five daily flights from Lagos to Abuja” .

Medview Airline has also released a schedule with six daily flights to the nation’s capital. In a statement by the Chief Operating Officer/Accountable Manager (COO/AM), Engineer Lookman ANIMASHAUN said besides the six daily flights, the flights to YOLA, KANO and Maiduguri will now be routed through Abuja, which has been the practice.