Cows invade Akure Airport runway

A herd of cattle strayed onto the runway of Akure Airport this morning, preventing an Air Peace flight from Lagos from landing.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has apologised to Air Peace Airlines and its passengers for the incident.

FAAN issued the apology in a statement signed by its General Manager, Corporate Affairs , Mrs Henrietta Yakubu in Lagos on Saturday.

Yakubu said the Air Peace flight, which left Lagos for Akure could not land immediately as some cows strayed onto the runway of the airport.

She said :”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.

The Corporate Communications Manager of Air Peace, Mr Chris Iwarah , also confirmed the incident in a statement issued on Saturday.

Iwarah said: “Flight P4 7002 from Lagos had to delay landing into Akure Airport on 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 FAAN (FAAN AVSEC) quickly intervened and cleared the runway.

“The flight was eventually cleared to land after about seven minutes. Our guests on board were all calm while the delay lasted.”

He said the aircraft departed for Lagos at about 1.06pm with full escort from FAAN security personnel.