NAMA Reacts To Lagos Bound Foreign Airlines Diversions Says It’s In The Interest Of Safety

By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has said that the foreign flights diversions at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos to Ghana are in the interest of safety.

According to the agency, the inability to land at the Lagos airport was largely due to issues of inclement weather and company minimas of affected airlines.

Foreign flight diverted included British Airways (BA) from London, Delta Airlines from USA and Emirates Airline from Dubai.

Stating its position on the issue in a statement signed by the agency’s GM, Public Affairs, Khalid Emele, It stated “Our position is that such diversions are in the interest of safety.

The agency noted that Lagos has two runways- 18 Right and 18 Left. The Doppler Very High Omni-Directional Radio Range (DVOR) and the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) at the airport have successfully been calibrated and passed 100%.

It explained “the localizer (a component of the Instrument Landing System) responsible for horizontal guidance at runway 18 Left has also passed 100% calibration while the glide slope (which is another component of the Instrument Landing System that provides vertical guidance) is undergoing routine maintenance and by tomorrow (12/02/2020), the maintenance will be concluded and the equipment shall be fully on air.”

“On Runway 18 Right, there is Category 3 ILS which is still undergoing installation. Presently, Selex Systems, the contractors are working on the realignment of its parameters, preparatory to the calibration and commissioning of the equipment in the shortest possible time.”

“Meanwhile the agency hereby wishes to reassure airspace users and the general public that the Nigerian Airspace remains safe for seamless, and economic air travel and regret any inconveniences caused.” It stated.

It would be recalled that British Airways had on Monday 6th January, 2020 diverted its Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos-bound flights to Accra, Ghana which according to the airline was due to low visibility, faulting the Instrument Landing System installed at Lagos Airport.