The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has declared that the Kaduna International Airport is ready for the expected traffic surge ahead of the closure of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja in less than three weeks.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday by the FAAN Manager at the airport, Hajiya Amina Ozi-Salami, who spoke in Kaduna during a site inspection of the airport.
Salami declared that the runway was in perfect condition while the capacity of the airport had been enhanced to accommodate any type of aircraft adding that adequate manpower would be deployed to meet the operational needs during the six weeks period.
She said that the fire and safety equipment as well as the navigational equipment of the airport were being upgraded in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard adding that the lightning of the runway would be completed during the week,
“We are going to also boost the manpower by deploying staff from Abuja to Kaduna and we are bringing in 40 fire and safety staff and 57 security staff,” she said.
“The management has been making effort to stop villagers around the airport from trespassing and the state government has started working on the vandalised portion of the perimeter fencing.
“With the synergy among the security agencies, the issue of security has been taken care of.”
Also confirming the news, the project engineer at the new airport terminal building, Kazeem Keji, said the project was 92 per cent completed and will be ready by February ending.
He explained that the major component of the project had been completed which include the fittings, lightning and the ceiling would be fixed during the week.
“We are not looking at the March 8 date, our deadline for completion is February ending and we are going to finish it,” he said.
“We have done the major part of the project; it is only the fittings that we are expecting to be delivered after which the ceiling will be fixed.”
Also, the Head, Fire and Safety, Alhaji Abubakar Danladi, said that three fire tenders were functional, while others were being repaired, adding that the authority would also provided additional new ones to help them to attain “Category 9”.
