The Murtala Muhammed Airport's international runway, Runway 18R/36L, will be closed for renovations, according to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
For facility renovations, The Runway will be closed on January 22 and January 23.
However, Prime 9ja Online learned that the shutdown will take place at a time when there would be little to no aeroplane activity.
According to a NAMA source, a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued to that effect, and the runway will be blocked between 1:00 am and 6:00 am Nigerian time from 000-0500 UTC.
A Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) representative informed Prime 9ja Online that even though no flights were anticipated to take place during the time the runway would be closed, it was still important to issue a NOTAM in order to alert the global aviation community in the event of a flight emergency.
“Aircraft under stress, which may be flying across Nigerian airspace may want to make an emergency landing on that runway and the pilot will click his system and know that within that given time the runway cannot take any aircraft; unless it is very critical. This is a standard operating procedure, which everyone knows in the industry.”
Although airports are under FAAN management, NOTAM is issued by NAMA, which is in charge of communications in Nigeria’s airspace disseminated through the Lagos and Kano Flight Information Regions.