Airport certified ready for emergency response
Abuja – The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that the agency plans to rehabilitate the runway of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu before the high Christmas traffic, Thisday reported.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the agency, Saleh Dunoma who told journalists recently during the ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja that FAAN would commence repair work on the bad portions of the runway before the Yuletide celebrations.
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The palliative work, he explained, is expected to start two weeks before Christmas to cater for the expected traffic during the Yuletide.
“I was in Enugu last week and we are just planning to have a two-week break just before the Christmas to make sure that we take care of that runway but it has to be properly planned; we want to plan it in such a way that the inconveniences would be minimised”, he said.
He explained that after inspecting the runway last week during his visit to Enugu state, he spoke to the Enugu state government on what they intend to do to ensure safety on the runway and disclosed that while work would be going on at the airport it would not be closed but the time of operations would be shortened for speedy completion of work.
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“So I have spoken to the people of Enugu, precisely the government so that they know what we intend to do, we are not going to close it. But what we intend to do is to maybe shorten the time of operations, so that we can take ten days and fix it but operations would continue,” Dunoma said.
Emergency Response
The Airports Authority also conducted a mock exercise to test the Enugu airport’s emergency response capability and said it was satisfied with the response and thus certified it as ready for emergency response any time such challenges occur.
The exercise which created panic in some passengers, who were not aware that it was a test case, stage-managed aircraft crash with 20 passengers on board.
The incident commander at the airport, Mrs. Nkafon Goodluck, said they tested emergency procedures on an aircraft with a failed engine, which crash-landed and ignited a fire.
“We tackled the emergency; only one person died out of the 20 passengers on board,” she reported.
The airport’s General Manager, Operations, Mrs. Oni, said what took place was a collaboration with agencies on what to do in case of emergencies.
She noted that the mock exercise was last performed at the Enugu Airport in 2015, adding that it helps in certification and to ascertain the state of preparedness in case such incident occurs.
The Airport Manager, Mr. Orji Mgbemena, pleaded with those who were embarrassed by the exercise, noting that such cases usually take everybody by surprise.
Mgbenmena said it helped the airport to know if it was short or had exceeded expectation, particularly as an international airport, adding that it was also for regulatory purpose.
