Lagos airport: Emirates Airline’s plane collides into Hak Air

A Boeing 777-200LR belonging to Emirates Airline on Monday night at about 9:30pm was involved in a ground collision with an aircraft belonging to a domestic airline operator at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The Emirates aircraft, marked A6-EWD, was taxiing for a take-off en-route Dubai when its wing tip cut into the B737-400 aircraft owned by HAK Air, parked on the apron of the domestic wing of the airport.
Newswatch Times learnt that the Emirates aircraft was diverted to take off from the domestic runway (L -18) of the airport due to the light out on the runway (R-18) of the international wing.
The damaged B737-400 aircraft was said to have been slated for a demo flight to be held yesterday morning in preparations for the issuance of Air Operations Certificate (AOC) for the airline to commence scheduled domestic flight operations.
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) of airlines was said to have promptly deployed a team of investigators to determine the circumstances surrounding the serious incident with a view to making possible safety recommendations.
Confirming the accident, the Head, Public Affairs, AIB, Tunji Oketunbi, in a statement made available to Newswatch Times, said   the Emirates aircraft had a little damage on its wing tip, while the Hak Air B737 sustained substantial damage.
He added that the bureau has promptly deployed a team of investigators to determine the circumstances surrounding the serious incident with a view to making possible safety recommendations.
The Emirates flight was aborted and the passengers were evacuated immediately.
Top aviation chiefs, among whom were the Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Usman Mukhtar, Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Engr. Saleh Dunamo, Managing Director Nigerian Airspace management Agency (NAMA), Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam, and the Commissioner/CEO of AIB, Dr Felix Abali visited the scene of the accident Monday night.
Meanwhile, earlier yesterday, Commissioner/CEO of AIB, who repeated his visit to the scene of the incident, promised that the investigation shall be handled with speed.
“Every incident is a safety issue that must be thoroughly investigated. This will help in preventing accidents and sustain safety in aviation. This investigation will be conducted with speed,” Abali said.
Attempts by Newswatch Times to get a comment from the management of HAK Air was futile as chief executive of the airline, Capt. Harry Kuti, was said to be out of the country on official engagement.
The airline, which has begun the process for the issuance of its AOC by NCAA, has brought in five aircraft for its domestic operations.