An aircraft owned by Ethiopian Airlines was the first to land at the reopened Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The aircraft touched down some minutes past 12pm. Ethiopian Airlines was the only foreign airline that made use of the Kaduna airport during the period that flights were diverted from Abuja.
The Abuja airport was closed on March 8 to enable repairs on its runway.
In a related development, Arik Air says it will resume flights to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Wednesday.
In a statement by its spokesman, Ola Adebanji, the airline commended the federal government for fulfilling its promise to repair and open the airport in six weeks.
“We are pleased that the federal government has fulfilled its promise to reopen Abuja airport on schedule. This is highly commendable and airline operators can now operate safely to Abuja without any concerns about the state of the runway,” Olabanji quoted Roy Ilegbodu, the airline’s chief executive officer, as saying.
“We assure our Abuja-bound passengers of the same high safety standard they have known the airline for over the years. Our pledge is to continue to improve on our on-time performance and team friendliness.”
The airline said it would be operating daily flights between Abuja and Lagos. It also announced that from May 1, it would resume flights to Maiduguri international airport.
According to the airline, destinations to be connected from Abuja include Ilorin, Ibadan, Gombe, Yola, Sokoto, Port Harcourt and Accra (Ghana).
