The Federal Government has announced plans to carry out a test run of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos on Saturday this week.
The test run of the facilities in the 2 airports is to determine their readiness for the resumption of domestic flight operations.
According to a tweet post by the aide to the President on New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, this was disclosed by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
In his briefing, the NCAA boss, also said that the Federal Government, hoped to announce the date for resumption of domestic flight operations by next week.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s ratings risk downgrade over rising debt and lower revenue
According to the tweet post, “Dry Run tests of Lagos and Abuja Airports will be coming up this Saturday. Hopefully, sometime next week, we will be able to announce a restart date for domestic flights.”
He also said, “Significant progress has been made regarding readiness to restart domestic aviation industry. A few gaps remaining which will be closed hopefully in next couple of days. We have to get it right both in technical safety and health safety.”
Nuhu also noted that after the dry run tests, the FG would identify the gaps that might be there and close them. After that, the date for resumption of domestic flight operations by next week would be announced.
The airports had been closed to both domestic and international flight operations since March as part of measures by the government to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s tier-1 banks pay N29.8 billion worth of taxes in Q1 2020
Nairametrics, last week, reported the suspension of the resumption of domestic flight operations by the Federal Government. The Government said that the initially announced date of June 21, 2020, was no longer feasible as they did not feel that the industry was ready.
The NCAA said they would submit a report to through the Aviation Minister to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, advising on a possible date for resumption.
DG @NigerianCAA: ‘Dry Run’ tests of Lagos and Abuja Airports will be coming up this Saturday. Hopefully sometime next week we will be able to announce a restart date for domestic flights. #PTFCOVID19
— Tolu Ogunlesi, MON (@toluogunlesi) June 25, 2020
DG @NigerianCAA: Significant progress has been made regarding readiness to restart domestic aviation industry. A few gaps remaining, which will be closed hopefully in next couple of days. We have to get it right both in technical safety and health safety. #PTFCOVID19
— Tolu Ogunlesi, MON (@toluogunlesi) June 25, 2020
