Gists By FAAN reopens Ilorin Airport
File: An Airpeace aircraft
Reprieve came the way of airline
operators and passengers on Saturday
evening as an Air Peace plane, which
lost one of its tyres at the Ilorin
International Airport, was evacuated
from the runway of the airport.
Arik Air, Overland Airways and charter
airlines had cancelled their flights to
the Ilorin airport on Friday and
Saturday, following the closure of the
facility by the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria after an Air Peace
plane landed at the airport and lost one
of its tyres on the runway.
Sixty-six passengers and six crew
members onboard the Air Peace aircraft
from Abuja were said to have
“disembarked safely” when one of the
plane’s tyres blew off on landing at the
Ilorin airport.
It was gathered that the incident
happened on Friday at 10:30am while
the B737-500 aircraft with registration
number 5N-BQR was taxiing to the
parking bay.
No one was reportedly injured during
the incident and no life was lost.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,
the aviation industry regulators, and
the Accident Investigation Bureau, the
agency that investigates air accidents,
confirmed the incident.
They, however, said it was not a major
incident or accident.
However, findings by Sunday PUNCH
revealed that several passengers billed
to fly out of the airport and into the
airport were stranded due the airport
closure.
Arik Air, Overland Airways and Air
Peace passengers became stranded after
the carriers cancelled their flights.
FAAN was forced to close the airport
because it was reported that the ground
handling company meant to tow the Air
Peace grounded plane from the airport
runway lacked the equipment to do so.
As such, Air Peace was forced to bring
in a new set of tyres from Lagos to
Ilorin to replace the burst tyres on the
runway on Saturday.
The plane was later removed after the
replacement.
The NCAA spokesperson, Mr Sam
Adurogboye, however, said the aircraft
would go through recertification before
being released to fly again.
A source at the Ilorin airport said many
stranded passengers had started
rebooking their flights after the airport
was reopened.
“With this development, flight
operations in and out of Ilorin can now
commence in earnest,” an official of the
airport who pleaded anonymity told
Sunday PUNCH.
He described as untrue claim of plane
crash in Ilorin.
“There was no plane crash at Ilorin
International Airport,” he said in a
reply to an inquiry.
It was gathered that the process of
moving the plane from the runway was
slow because, according to a source, “it
is a big aircraft and we have no
equipment to effect quick evacuation.”
In a follow-up statement, Air Peace also
debunked reports (not by PUNCH ) that
its plane crashed at the airport.
“Our aircraft neither crashed nor crash-
landed in Ilorin or in any place for that
matter,” the statement partly read,
adding that “Air Peace is committed to
providing peaceful connectivity across
cities and relentlessly observing the
highest standards of safety in its
operations.”