Ekiti Airport To Begin Operations October

The former Technical Adviser on the Ekiti State Cargo International Airport, Air Vice Marshal Adeniyi Ojuawo (retd), on Tuesday, stated that commercial operations at the airport would begin in October.

Ojuawo, a House of Representatives member-elect, said the runway of the airport which started during the tenure of former governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, had been tested with a test flight, adding that other planes had successfully landed and taken off at the facility.

According to him, the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji, had given the go-ahead to deliver the project by October 2023 for passenger operation.

He added, “As it is, it can take daylight, good weather flights. We are already talking to airlines in the country and everything will soon be finalised. This project has come to stay and we will soon see the results of the vision of the former governor, Dr Fayemi.”

The lawmaker-elect, who dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the airport was unnecessary, a waste of resources and consequently abandoned by Oyebanji, said the airport would enhance the socio-economic development of the state.

Ojuawo said, “The airport will bring about transformation. As a cargo airport, it will help this state and its neighbours being agrarian areas. It will open the state to the international market. It will as well create employment opportunities and as well attract numerous developments.

“Contractors are working day and night to deliver the first phase of the project to the admiration of the former governor, Fayemi, who is doing everything possible, even outside the office in seeing to the success of the laudable project. Major equipment and facilities needed in the airport are being put in place in line with international standards.

”Anyone that is not here cannot believe the level of work the airport has reached. As you can see, the passengers’ terminal building is nearing perfection; the control tower will be delivered soon, meteorological garden completed, among other progress made on the airport project.

“We heard a lot of things, but the truth of the matter is, anywhere in the world, airport construction is not like a residential building that you can finish in one breath, the work here will continue. Don’t forget recently, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned a project at the airport in Lagos, you can remember when that airport was opened.”