Cows on Saturday, invaded the premises of the Akure Airport, Ondo state, on Saturday, preventing an Air Peace flight from landing.
The incident, which occurred around 12pm, took those at the airport by surprise.
It took the intervention of officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other security operatives to clear the runway for safe landing.
One of the witnesses, Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, said he was waiting to board an aircraft to Lagos when the incident happened.
He said the cows overtook the airport runway and delayed the aircraft — said to belong to Air Peace Airline — from landing for about fifteen minutes.
Writing via his Twitter handle, Fayose said: “Today, while at the Akure Airport to board Air Peace commercial flight to Lagos, I witnessed cows taking over the airport runway and preventing aircraft No. 5NBQQ from landing for more than 15 minutes.
“Thanks to Capt Inyang for saving the lives of the passengers.”
Chris Iwarah, spokesman of the airline, confirmed the incident in a statement.
“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,” he said.
“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 on board were all calm while the delay lasted. The aircraft departed for Lagos at about 1.06 with full escort from FAAN security personnel.”
FAAN Apologises
Meanwhile, FAAN early Sunday, apologised to the airline and its passengers for the embarrassment.
In a statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, the agency said normalcy was quickly restored and assured travellers that efforts were ongoing to “close the gap that aided this incident” and that it was remained committed to its core values of safety, security and comfort.
“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,” the statement read.
