The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has confirmed in a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) that it has certified the CAT III Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) at the country's Lagos and Abuja airports.
CAT III ILS was installed in Lagos last year, but as calibration checks were not completed, it could not be put to use. As previously reported, haze caused by the Harmattan dust storms had drastically reduced visibility from February 10, prompting more than a week of flight disruptions in and out of the airport.
The certification follows the commissioning of the ILS both for runway 18/36 (3,900 metres) in Lagos and for runway 04/22 (3,610 metres) in Abuja. With the Harmattan at its peak, many Lagos-bound international flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted to Abuja, Accra, and Lomé, with one estimate putting airlines' losses at over NGN3 billion (USD8.3 million) due to the disruptions, according to Nigeria's Guardian newspaper.
NAMA's managing director, Fola Akinkuotu, said in a statement on February 23 that the calibration of navigational aids in other locations across the country was in progress to ensure that any that are due for calibration are covered.
Emirates, one of the airlines that was affected by the problem, diverted two flights to Accra and one to Abuja on February 11-12 before suspending its 14x weekly route from Dubai International altogether, saying it would not resume it until the ILS had improved. It fully resumed the route on February 20, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
