Air Peace Flight P4 7002 from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos was on Saturday delayed for several minutes as it wanted to land at the Akure Airport.
The delay was caused by cows that thronged the runway, so the aircraft had to hover for a while so that the cows will be dispersed for the aircraft to land.
The Governor of Ekiti state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose who reacted to the incident on his twitter handle commended the pilot of the flight, Captain Inyang for savings the lives of the passengers.
Fayose said he witnessed the incident as cattle prevented the aircraft with registration number, 5NBQQ from landing at the runway for about 15 minutes.
Asked to confirm the incident, Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said, “We confirm that flight P4 7002 from Lagos had to delay landing into Akure Airport today (Saturday) when the pilot-in-command sighted cows on the runway at about 12.15pm.
“On being alerted by control tower, aviation security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN AVSEC) quickly intervened and cleared the runway.
“The flight was eventually cleared to land after about seven minutes. Our guests (passengers) on board were all calm while the delay lasted. The aircraft departed for Lagos at about 1.06 pm with full escort from FAAN security personnel.”
However, FAAN has apologised to the airline and passengers for the runway incursion.
In a statement signed by the agency’s General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN said, “The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria wishes to apologize to Air Peace Airlines and our esteemed passengers for a runway incursion incident that prevented an Akure airport bound flight from landing for some minutes. The Air Peace flight, which left Lagos for Akure could not land immediately as some cows had strayed into the runway of the airport.
“However, normalcy was restored quickly, as officers of the aviation security department quickly dispersed the cows from the runway and the aircraft was cleared for landing. The Authority will like to assure travellers and the general public that efforts are already ongoing to close the gap that aided this incident.”
