There may be no need for aircraft operating into the Muritala Muhammed International airport confronted with bad weather to divert to alternative airports in the country or the nearest airports in places like Accra as the Ogun State Agro-Cargo airport will be available for such aircraft during such emergency times.
This is just as the cargo airport, which is located in Ilishan-Remo in the state and already granted approval by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to operate chartered flights, will soon be cleared to commence scheduled flights.
The approval to commence scheduled flights was being expected from the NCAA as the cargo airport has met all the requirements needed to hit the ground running.
The cargo airport, which has the longest runway in the country that is capable of accommodating wide body aircraft, when fully operational has the best facilities to handle non perishable items in West Africa.
Speaking to some aviation journalists during a tour of the airport earlier in the week, Captain Dapo Olumide, the consultant appointed on the state’s airport management by the governor, Dapo Abiodun rolled out the available facilities at the airport which automatically positioned it for international standard capacity.
Besides having the longest runway in the country, Olumide revealed how the airport is one of the few that have full perimeter fence stretched into 12 kilometers with other facilities like Doppler weather radar, satellite based navigational equipments and the best operating permits.
Other facilities that positioned the cargo airport as first among equals is the decision of the construction team to make available a space of five meters on all sides to prevent any future encroachment by people living around the airport community to prevent the similar challenges confronting many other airports like the Lagos airport.
Unlike many airports that are regularly thrown into darkness whenever the national grid collapse, which often lead to disruption of flights, the Ogun cargo airport has different energy backups like solar, gas and generating set which makes it almost impossible for the airport to express power outage
According to Olumide: “We are in the process of applying for an Operational Permit from NCAA. To obtain an operational permit, an airport must scale through five phases of assessment. We are in phase three.
“NCARs 2023 has changed some things, we are obtaining Operating permit and not Aerodrome permit, our airport is the first airport to obtain Operating permit, to lead in the new regulations, therefore, we are together with the NCAA in a learning curve in the new regulations .B777,: A380 aircraft can land here. This is a Solar,-poweerd airport with Doppler Very high frequency omnidirectional range (VOR) and Arterial Navigation and this is the best airport for non-perishable produce.
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“While all this process is ongoing, and in recognition of the airports’ implementation of findings, the authority has granted the airport approval for charter flight operations during the hours of sunrise to sunset.”
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ade Akinsanya while confirming the approval to commence chartered flights granted the airport by the NCAA, added that works at the airport was 95 percent completed and only awaiting approval for scheduled operations.
His words: We have only gotten approval for charter flights, the basic equipments are in place, the runway is 4 kilometers long, the feedback we are getting is that the runway is the best in Nigeria, the Control Tower is functional, the fire and administrative stations are in place, the main terminal building will be completed by January 2025. I am sure we are ready to go once we get approval for commercial flights but it is 95 percent completed. There are about three phases we have to cover before the final approval, we have done the first and second phases, the next visit by the NCAA will be to certify for commercial flights. The NCAA, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and the Nigeria Meteorological Agency have been very cooperative.”.
Also speaking, Commiserate for Transportation, Mr Olugbenga Dairo, recalled how the airport project was conceived in 2019 even before the Ministry of Transportation was established.
“The plan is to capitalize on the strategic position of the State and build an Agro-Cargo airport , it is a strategic infrastructure designed to develop and promote development in and around the state, we are confident that investments in this airports will yield desired fruits”, he said.
