Abuja airport runway shut briefly after private jet incident

Flight movements at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja were briefly halted on Thursday following an incident involving a private jet that suffered a tyre burst while landing.

The situation prompted airport officials to shut down the runway for a short period.

According to aviation authorities, the aircraft was later cleared from the runway, allowing normal flight operations to resume soon after.

Sources confirmed that the event took place around 2 p.m., causing a temporary disruption of flight activities.

The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Michael Achimugu, verified the occurrence, explaining that the interruption was due to a private aircraft’s burst tyre during landing. He added that operations had since returned to normal.

“I was informed that a private aircraft experienced a tyre burst on landing. But it has been cleared off the runway and operations are back to normal,” Achimugu said.

Thursday’s brief shutdown follows previous incidents at the Abuja airport that resulted in temporary runway closures. The airport was last shut down for maintenance months earlier, a move that caused flight delays at the time.

Authorities have not yet released an official statement regarding the cause of the tyre burst or whether an investigation will be conducted.