Flights to and from Nigeria maybe disrupted until end of February

Travellers in Nigeria may continue to experience flights disruption until the end of February due to harmattan haze, president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies has said.

Although a new landing system is being installed in Lagos to provide a more efficient guide to aircraft arriving at the airport, Bankole Bernard said aircraft visibility will be better by the end of February.

“Visibility became extremely poor, but I am sure before a twinkle of an eye two weeks will be gone and we will have a safe sky,” Bernard said.

Different carriers, last week, were forced to postpone, or cancel flights, while some had to reroute flights to Abuja, and neighboring Ghana and Togo.

Apart from the poor visibility a landing equipment at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport developed fault and prevented planes from landing, according to the Aviation Ministry.

British Airways, Delta and Emirate airlines are among international carriers that couldn’t land at the Lagos airport and were diverted to Ghana and Abuja. Other incoming flights were rerouted to Abuja airport.

Qatar airlines applied and has gotten approval to divert its flights to Abuja, the ministry of Aviation said on Thursday.

At least five of Nigeria’s eight carriers have issued travel advisories urging passengers to check the status of their scheduled flights before arriving at the airport. Multiple flights were delayed or canceled for a second day on Friday.