Flights to and out of Port Harcourt International Airport, were today disrupted when a wildfire that originated from a nearby bush spread to the runway area of the airport
In a prompt response to curtail the ranging fire, the management if Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN) order the closure of the runway.
“It is a bush fire. The airport has been closed for just a while in order for the smoke to dissipate. It will be opened shortly,” FAAN said
On the likely cause of the inferno, an official of FAAN who spoke under the conditions of anonymity because there was not permission to do so, explained that villagers from the airport’s host community, Omagwa, set fire on bushes around runway. The source stressed that the inferno spread rapidly close to the area forcing FAAN to close the runway.
Another source at the airport told africanbusinesstravel.com that aircraft could neither take off nor land on the runway.
Arriving airplanes returned to where they took off.
According to the source, an aircraft belonging to Max Air which was on ground during the incident could not take off while Arik Air flight from Lagos had to return to base.
Similarly, a Dana Flight 368 from Abuja to Port-Harcourt with 124 passengers had to return back to Abuja because of the inferno.
