Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, the one time very vibrant airport is now late. It is a relic of its past glory with little hope of resuscitation. What actually happened between 1999 and 2008 to render this glorious airport lifeless? Can we attribute the virus that tranquilised it to religious unrest or deliberate negative Nigerian politics? If we assume that politics played a major factor, what happened to the indigenes of Kano who watched the main Northern gateway perish to reminiscence? And if we propose religious intolerance of Kano youths, what solution is there to combat any future occurrence that could mar operational desire of local or foreign airlines wishing to maintain Kano as a hub? As we travel through this road of puzzles, it is very important to recollect the vibrancy of this beautiful but neglected airport again.
As a flying instructor at the then Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre in 1983-1987, Kano airport was a major cross country destination. Flying into Kano, both the student and the instructor must be very cautious of the Nigerian Airforce fighters and trainers that were very active in the area. Nigeria Airways, KLM, British Airways, Middle East, Egypt Air, Saudia, Kabo and other domestic airlines flooded Kano Airport with about 20 average daily flights. Today, the same airport handles less than 20 flights a week. There are four main airports in Nigeria, of which Kano in terms of age and infrastructure stands second to Lagos. About 584 domestic flights operate weekly within the country and more than 400 movements are recorded between Lagos and Abuja alone, excluding 11 foreign airlines that operate daily into these two airports. Do we attribute this phenomenon to economic viability of Abuja and Lagos or share coincidence that 90% of the airlines in this country are based in Lagos? Port Harcourt as an oil region, despite the set back two years ago for runway maintenance, has bounced back, even though the airport is day- light- operation only.
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