Airlines to Save Fuel Costs as Domestic Runway Gets Airfield Lighting

Chinedu Eze

Nigerian airlines will now save aviation fuel burnt taxing from international runway to the domestic terminals in the night, as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has fully installed airfield lighting at the runway designated for local carriers, known as Runway 18L.

Airlines burn fuel for over 20 minutes, cumulatively put at billions of naira per annum, when they land at international runway after 6:00 pm everyday to taxi to the domestic terminal, known as MMA2 or the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), which serve domestic flight services. This is because Runway 18L for several years did not have airfield lighting to guide flights to land in the night, but with the installation of the equipment by FAAN, flights will now land and take off on the facility in the night, thus saving the operators cost of fuel and time.

It will also reduce traffic on the international runway, as domestic airlines sometimes hover on arrival at Lagos airspace to wait for other flights before them to land before they do and also wait at the holding point for several minutes while taking off, thus causing delays.

Reacting to the completion of the project, the industry analyst and Director, Research, Zenith Travels, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo said the installation of airfield lighting at the domestic runway would be a relief to everyone.

“It is going to relieve everyone not only the airlines even the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), their stress would be reduced because they now have two runways and can easily depart and give start up to aircraft and clear them for landing easily and more frequently. That is for ATCs. Again, you expect there is going to be savings from fuel for the airline from what they used to taxi from the international runway and wait before they get to park, such fuel is now saved,”Ohunayo said.

Also reacting to the installation of the airfield lights at the Runway 18L, industry stakeholder and the Chairman, Nelike Capital Partners Limited, Dr Alexander Nwuba said the fully functional facility would reduce the time spent on approach and landing, improve departure time both of which would reduce cost of operation, given the additional time spent on the ground waiting at the international terminal, Runway 18R.