The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has reopened the Abuja airport for normal aviation services a day earlier than schedule. While speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Sen. Hadi Sirika said
April 19 is the due date “for us to conclude and open the airport based on our programme of work; we are able to deliver the project earlier than anticipated, so we can open it”.
“Here we are today; we set out to achieve that target and we achieved it.
“We thank Allah for His guidance and we are happy and thank his Excellency for his support.
”I also wish to thank all my colleagues who did it all and the media and the Nigerian people for standing by us,” he said.
The Ethiopian Airlines’ flight is the first to land at the airport on Tuesday with its Airbus A350-900 aircraft at 12:10 pm. This implies that the airport has officially been opened for flight operations.
Recall that the Abuja airport was shut for six weeks to enable Julius Berger to repair its failed runway while Abuja-bound air traffic was diverted to Kaduna during the period.