The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, described the runway of the Ekiti State Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport as world-class and praised the quality of work executed on it.
Keyamo, who landed at the airport around 5:15 pm yesterday and received a water salute, stated that his visit was part of a fact-finding mission.
He affirmed that the airport is ready, noting that virtually all the facilities required for a standard airport have been provided.
The Minister explained that the delay in commencing commercial flight operations is to allow for non-scheduled flights first, which aligns with standard global procedures.
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Keyamo added that the agro-allied airport has been under the Ministry of Aviation’s consideration for a long time, emphasizing that it is now time for operations to commence.
“Well, I am here on a fact-finding mission, the Ekiti Agro-Allied Airport has been on our radar for a long time and we felt it was time for us to start operations here.
“What we have approved for now is for the first six months for us to conduct non-scheduled flights. In other words, we will not have big commercial airlines coming in with plenty of passengers now but it is ready for the private jets to come in now to test the facilities here. It’s not because it is not ready but it is actually the standard procedure all over the world that you start with a non-scheduled flight and test the facilities before bringing a lot of passengers here.
“I can see that the aeronautical side is absolutely ready, the aeronautical where you have a runway and am sure you have seen the quality of the runway, this quality of the runway you see here can be compared to any runway in the world”, the Minister asserted.
The Minister stated that the airport had been long overdue, considering the significant agribusiness activities taking place in Ekiti State.
He expressed confidence that the airport would compete favourably with similar facilities worldwide.
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The Minister was welcomed at the airport by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Oyeniyi Adebayo; the Commissioner for Transport, Kolawole Ajobiewe; the Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun; the Special Adviser on OTSD, Moyo Ekundayo; the Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode; and the Technical Adviser to the Governor on the Airport Project, AVM Sunday Makinde (rtd), among others.
The visit occurred barely a week after the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) conducted a calibration of landing equipment at the airport.
