By Francis Ogwo
Ahead of the resumption of commercial flights at Nigeria’s airports, the Federal Government has conducted a flight simulation exercise at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The event held on Saturday and was spearheaded by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, during which the government tested all protocols designed to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the airports.
The simulation kicked off around 8am with the passengers going through the stipulated protocols before boarding an Aero Contractor flight at about 11:20am.
A Boeing B737 aircraft marked NG110 with 51 passengers on board was used for the simulation exercise at the NAIA.
The Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, had said last week, that the date for the reopening of airports would be announced this week.
According to him, most loopholes have been sorted and the airspace would be reopened soon.
At the exercise, it was observed that the social distancing rules were observed by passengers as they maintained about two metres distance apart while boarding.
Other items in the fight against the dreaded COVID-19 such as hand wash, sanitisers and bags disinfecting areas were strategically located at the departure terminal with Port health workers checking the temperature of the travellers.
Speaking on the development, Sirika said the flight simulation was conducted to ascertain the level of compliance of safety protocols expected at the airports in the global fight against the ravaging pandemic
“All of the things that have happened here are to ensure that we don’t spread COVID-19,” the Minister said while assuring air travellers that the government would strictly observe all the protocols once the airports were fully open to flights.
Recall that the nation’s airports have remained shut to both local and international flights for over three months following the outbreak of COVID-19.
