The international runway at Lagos Airport to be shut down for Minor maintenance
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has announced that the international runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, known as runway 18R/36L, will be closed for the maintenance of parts of the facility.
According to the company, the runway will be closed on January 22 and 23 for the maintenance of part of the infrastructure during peak hours, when there are few or no flights.
A source from NAMA disclosed that NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued to that effect and that the runway would be closed from 000-0500 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time); that is between 1:00 am to 6:00 am Nigerian Time.
A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.
NOTAMs are notices or advisories that contain information concerning the establishment, conditions or change in any aeronautical facility, service, procedure or hazard, the timely knowledge of which may be essential to personnel and systems concerned with flight operations.
Such notices are created and transmitted by government agencies and airport operators under guidelines specified by Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (CICA).
However, another source from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) hinted newsmen, that even if no flights would be expected during the period the runway would be closed, the issuing of NOTAM was very important so that the global air transport industry would be updated on the status of the runway at that period in case of a flight emergency.
It was noted that despite the fact that the airport is under the control of FAAN, NOTAMs are issued by NAMA who are in charge of air traffic in Nigeria from the Lagos and Kano Flight Information Regions.
