Fllights failed to resume yesterday at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa after over a year closure for repair works as the calibration of equipments installed at the airport were only concluded yesterday.
The Federal Government however said it has deferred the re-opening of the airport to Friday. Most of the jobs which the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had assured would be completed before yesterday for normal operations to begin were still undone as at yesterday.
Not even the signpost announcing the airport had been repaired, leaving the �Welcome to Port Harcourt International Airport� located on top of the terminal building by the control tower almost blown away and without making any meaning.
Inside the terminal building, the floors still looked dirty with splashes of paint while work on airline offices were still ongoing at the time THISDAY visited the place.
The experts who did the calliberations were said to have arrived Port Harcourt on Monday but could not land at the airport because of some non functional equipment and had to land at Air force base.
They later went to the airport where they brought in a plane from Sierra Leone �ATR42� meant to align the equipment to the frequencies that will enable flights locate their bearing on approach to the airport.
Yesterday, the calibration aircraft also aligned the PAPI which improves visibility for incoming aircraft.
The equipment was said to have been out of order for long and one of the new things installed in the place.
As at 1.30 pm, the aircraft with propeller engines had finished its duties and flew out of the airport to Sierra Leone having landed severally.
Some officials of airlines which had come to see when the order to resume operations from the airport would be given said they were waiting for the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) which will signal the commencement of operations.
Contacted, the Airport Manager, Mr. Godknows Ugwuzor said that the most important thing was to start operations as every other thing would follow.He pointed out that whatever is needed for operations to start had been put in place.
When his attention was drawn to the state of things like hanging wires and unreplaced ceilings in the arrival and departure wings, he assured that everything would be put right.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, said that safety inspectors from the Authority had to be sent to inspect facilities before the re-opening.He added that the opening of the airport for business, a year and six months after it was closed down for rehabilitation, was in accordance with the directive given by President Umar Musa Yar�adua.
Demuren who spoke during the end of the year celebration of NCAA noted that the President gave the directive to ease the hassles of air transport in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country, as Port Harcourt airport is a connecting air link for the two zones and the rest of the country.
He said the agency had moved to ensure that the airport met the expected target of vacating passengers as the enormity of passengers using the Owerri airport would be overwhelming.
�Our safety inspectors have moved in to Port Harcourt to ensure that the place is reopened for day light services while another set of inspectors have moved in to Jeddah for the return leg of the hajj operation.�
The General Manager, Public Affairs, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Akin Olukunle, explained in a press statement that the Port
Harcourt international airport was scheduled for an upgrade early last year, but was gutted by fire before the upgrade began.
�The fire incident also forced the Federal Government to direct the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to start a total upgrade of the airport.�
Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun said that FAAN had already completed the installation and ground check of the Precision Approach Instrument (PAPI), the landing equipment for aircraft, adding that officials of ASECNA had also on Tuesday calibrated the PAPI with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority granting clearance to the airport for flight operations.
The reopening of the airport according to Aisuebeogun is in line with the earlier promise of the Minister of Transport, Mr. Diezani Alison-Madueke that the airport would be opened to daylight operation by mid-December 2007.
The airport is expected to begin full operation, including daylight and night operation after the installation of new airfield lighting system at the airport in due course.
The airport was closed on August 18, 2006 by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to allow for its rehabilitation and expansion, especially its runway, airfield lighting system and terminal
building.
Olukunle said that officials of some of the airlines such as Chanchangi Airlines, Arik Air and Virgin Nigeria and ground handlers were at the airport on Tuesday to put all necessary facilities in place in preparation for the commencement of commercial operations at the airport.
Dec192007