More than 43,000 passengers passed through the Kaduna Airport in itsfirst 11 days of operations as the alternative to the Abuja Airport, according to the latest data submitted to the Presidency by the
Federal Government Coordinating Committee overseeing the management of the airport repair, closure and relocation.

A presidency official disclosed that this is more than the 41,000passengers it recorded in the entire first quarter of 2015, and the 21,000 in the first quarter of 2016.

Also, during this period, about 10,000 passengers took advantage ofthe free bus shuttle organised by the federal government to transportpassengers between the Abuja and Kaduna airports.

The free bus shuttle conveys passengers between Abuja and Kaduna airports, starting at the Abuja airport at 6 o’clock in the morning,and at the Kaduna Airport from 8 a.m. The shuttle takes three hours from airport to airport, and runs every 30 minutes, until the arrival of the last daily flight in Kaduna.

The shuttle is in addition to the federal government’s free train service between Abuja and Kaduna. The two-and-half-hour train servicedeparts Abuja’s Idu Station for Kaduna at 6 a.m., 11.55 a.m. and 5.45p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; and departs Kaduna’s Rigasa Station for Abuja at 9 a.m., 2.50 p.m. and 8.40 p.m.

According to the report, the federal government’s coordinating committee, comprising senior officials of the Ministry of Aviation, its parastatals (FAAN, NCAA, NAMA, AIB), and security and emergency agencies (Police, FRSC, DSS, NEMA), is chaired by the Minister of
State Aviation, HadiSirika, and has been meeting weekly to reviewoperations, collate statistics, and implement internal and externalfeedback.

Also in its latest report, the committee highlighted the deployment of173 police patrol vehicles, and 2,400 police personnel – drawn from the Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, Special Anti-RobberySquad, and others – along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway and the Abuja-Kaduna Rail Line.

Equally deployed are 30 police motorcycles along the rail tracks, two patrol helicopters along the rail and road routes, and 10 ArmouredPersonnel Carriers (APCs) at strategic points on the routes, includingthe airports and train stations.

The Abuja airport runway was closed for operations on March8, to enable the reconstruction of the entire runway which constructed in 1982, and has, until now, seen no repair works,despite the fact that it was built to last no more than 25 years. Thereconstruction, being carried out by Julius Berger,has since commenced, and is now in its third week – halfway into theplanned six weeks.

After the Abuja airport reopens for operations on April 19, upgradeworks on the runway will continue for another 18 weeks. This secondphase of upgrade works on the runway will be carried out at night, with no disruption to flight schedules, the Presidency official said.

The source added that a media tour to allow reporters observe and assess the progress on the Abuja airport runway repair will hold this week, as the repair is about its mid-point on Wednesday.

The federal government’s coordinating committee has launched a series of customer engagement initiatives to enable passengers and travellers affected bythe closure get up-to-date information and updates.